Pieter Claesz (Berchem 1597/8 - 1660/1 Haarlem), Still life with a roemer, a crab, a half-peeled lemon, and a bread roll on pewter plates, a basket with fruit, and a Chinese bowl with olives, all arranged on a draped table. photo Sotheby's

oil on panel, signed in monogram and dated centre left: PC(in compendium)/ 1652, 49.3 by 68.6 cm. Est. 50,000—70,000 EUR - Hammer Price with Buyer's Premium:  78,750 EUR.

NOTE: In his later years Pieter Claesz. started to paint in a looser and painterly manner than that of the 1620s-40s, when his works were still very smooth and precise. The present work, with its date of 1652, fits this later manner perfectly and can be compared to other works dated in the early and mid 1650s. One such is now in the Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo (inv. no. 58-16), which can be dated around 1654, and shows a similar free handling of paint in the basket with grapes, as well as in the bowl with olives and in other similar items on the table.¹

We are grateful to Fred G. Meijer of the R.K.D., The Hague, for confirming the attribution on the basis of first hand inspection.

1. See M. Brunner-Bulst, Pieter Claesz., Lingen 2004, p. 330, cat. no. 210, reproduced.

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

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