Pieter Claesz.(Berchem 1597/8 - 1660/1 Haarlem), A still life with an overturned pewter jug, a Roemer and a blue lined beer glass, surrounded by grapes and leaves, a pewter plate with a ham, a salt cellar, a roll and a sliced lemon on pewter plates with olives in a porcelain bowl. photo Sotheby's

oil on canvas, 78.3 by 94.4 cm - Est. 70,000—90,000 EUR - Hammer Price with Buyer's Premium:  108,750 EUR

PROVENANCE: Collection Vicktor Decock;
His sale, Paris, Charpentier, 12 May 1948, lot 62 (as by W.C. Heda);
Private Collection;
With Galerie Hurtebize, Cannes, by 2002;
Private Collection, Belgium.

LITERATURE AND REFERENCES: M. Brunner-Bulst, Pieter Claesz., der Hauptmeister des Haarlemer Stillebens im 17. Jahrhundert, Lingen 2004, p. 184, no. 185, reproduced p. 312.

NOTE: Formerly sold as a work by the Haarlem still life painter Willem Claesz. Heda, Fred G. Meijer and J. Nieuwstraten of the R.K.D., The Hague, were the first to recognise this work as an authentic work by Pieter Claesz. in 1984. As Dr. M. Brunner-Bulst suggests, Pieter Claesz. painted few works on canvas, usually large works, which may have been on commission. Stylistically it can be compared to works dated from the late 1640s, such as a work signed and dated 1650 at the Sarah Cambell Blaffer Foundation in Houston, Texas, and a work now in a private collection, sold, London, Christie's, 11 December 1987, lot 14.¹

As is beautifully shown, Claesz. reveals how well he could paint different textures: the different types of glass with their reflections and clarity, the roughness of the salt, dried fat on the meat, the bread roll and the different shiny textures of the iron compared with pewter and silver. This combination of attention to texture and confident brushwork is typical of his later, more painterly, style. The abundance of different foods and the valuable silver, pewter and Chinese wares, suggest that it was painted on commission, reflecting a rich patron's social status.

1. See under Literature, p. 308, no. 180, reproduced p. 102, and p. 312, no. 183, reproduced p. 310.

Sotheby's. Old Master Paintings.01 Dec 09. Amsterdam www.sothebys.com