Jan Davidsz. de Heem

Collection Th.W.H. Ward, London, by 1928;

With Wheeler, London;

With P. de Boer, Amsterdam;

In the collection of the family of the present owner since at least 1958.

Laren, Singer Museum, Kunstbezit rondom Laren, 3 July – 31 August 1958, cat. no. 100;

Dordrecht, Dordrechts Museum, Nederlandse stillevens uit de zeventiende eeuw, 21 July – 2 September 1962, cat. no. 61;

Amsterdam, Gallery P. de Boer, 22 April – 31 May 1983; Braunschweig, Herzog Anton-Ulrich-Museum, 15 June – 31 July 1983, A Fruitful Past: A Survey of the Fruit Still lifes of the Northern and Southern Netherlands from Brueghel till Van Gogh, no. 35.

R. Warner, Dutch and Flemish Flower and Fruit Painters of the 17th and 18th Centuries, London 1928, pp. 100, 101, reproduced plate 45c;

S. Segal in A Fruitful Past: A Survey of the Fruit Still lifes of the Northern and Southern Netherlands from Brueghel till Van Gogh, exhibition catalogue, Amsterdam and Braunschweig 1983, pp. 72, 119, cat. no. 35, reproduced;

I. Ember, Delights for the senses: Dutch and Flemish still-life paintings from Budapest, exhibition catalogue, Wasau 1989, p. 140, under no. B20.

The following condition report is provided by Sarah Walden who is an external specialist and not an employee of Sotheby's: Jan Daviddsz. De Heem. Still Life with Fruit on a Pewter Plate. Signed at upper right J.De. heem f . This perfect small panel has not been cradled and shows no trace of movement past or present. The exquisite condition of this painting is very rare. The fine treatment of each object bathed in a gentle light has remained perfectly intact, with no trace of wear, even in the deep shadow behind. There is one dark smudge on the side of the peach, and ultra violet light just shows the small retouchings along the base edge, which rise up slightly in a few places into the drapery, with one or two minute surface marks on the grapes. The marked impasto of the lemon contrasts with the delicacy of the perfectly unworn detail in the leaves behind and the fine definitions in the bread, as well as the complex reflections in the pewter plate. There has been great restraint over time in the conservation of this painting. This report was not done under laboratory conditions.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

This still life is typical of the small-scale panels produced by Jan Davidsz. de Heem in Antwerp in the 1640s. It is closely comparable to the slightly smaller panel with a wine glass, grapes, an oyster and lemon peel in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York,¹ and the painting sold London, Sotheby's, 4 July 2012, lot 20. All three works share a similar bright tonality with the individual elements arranged as a pyramid. The form of the signatures are, too, extremely similar, and it seems very likely that the three paintings were executed within a very short time of each other. The other two works differ in format, being upright.

The panel is stamped on the reverse with the maker's mark of François de Bout, a panel maker active in the 1630s and 1640s. Only two other works by de Heem are known to make use of a de Bout panel; the above-mentioned panel sold in 2012, and the signed Still life with fruit formerly with Galerie J.-M. Tassel, Paris, 1988 (35.2 x 52 cm), which Fred Meijer dates to 1649.

This work will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné on Jan Davidsz. de Heem, currently being prepared by Fred G. Meijer of the RKD, The Hague. Dr Meijer dates the painting to 1646.

1. See W. Liedtke, Dutch Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New Haven and London 2007, vol. I, pp. 316–17, no. 74, reproduced.