FRENCH SCHOOL, EARLY 19TH CENTURY | A Still Life of a lobster, a Chinese porcelain vase, oysters, lemons, bread, a knife and other objects on a wooden table draped with a green cloth

oil on canvas;

bears signature lower left on the edge of the table: 'JB Oudry'

Private collection, Cologne, 1933;
O. Hirschmann, Amsterdam, 1934;
Madame Leboeuf, Epernay;
New York art market, 1966;
There acquired by Emile Wolf, New York;
Thence by descent to the present owners. 

H. Opperman, 'Jean-Baptiste Oudry', Chicago 1972 , vol. I, p. 560, cat. no. P526, reproduced vol. II, p. 973, fig. 1 (as an early work by Oudry, circa 1710, based on a photograph).
H. Gerson, 'Ausbreitung und Nachwirkung der Holländischen Malerei des 17. Jahrhunderts', Amsterdam 1983, p. 220, reproduced fig. 37 (as Oudry). 

There is an old glue relining which is firm and stable. There is generally very good retention of the paint surface with lovely detail and strong coloration. There are some small scattered and discolored retouches visible to naked eye on the green table drapery and a small scuff just underneath the tail of the lobster. Under UV light: the aforementioned retouches to the green drapery fluoresce, otherwise nothing else is visible. This painting could be hung as is, however re-addressing of the old discolored retouches would improve the appearance.Offered in an elaborately carved and gilt wood frame.
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This painting, once thought to be by the French artist Jean-Baptiste Oudry based on a false signature, is by a 19th-century artist looking directly at the still lifes of the Dutch Golden Age, particularly those of Willem Kalf.