Lot 11. Balthasar van der Ast (Middelbourg 1593/1594-1657 Delft), Grapes, peaches, apples and plums in a Wan-li bowl on a ledge, with shells, a grasshopper and other fruit, signed and dated '·B·vander·ast·1625·' (lower right), oil on panel, 17 1⁄2 x 24 1⁄2 in. (44.4 x 62.2 cm., including additions to the panel of 3.3 cm. height to the upper edge and 4.1 cm. to the lower edge). Price realised GBP 289,800 (Estimate GBP 250,000 – GBP 350,000) © Christie's Images Ltd 2022

Provenance: Sir Thomas Beauchamp-Proctor, 2nd Bt. (1756-1827), Langley Park, Norfolk, by 1815, and by descent in the family to,
Sir Christopher Radstock Proctor-Beauchamp, 9th Bt. (b. 1935); Christie's, London, 29 November 1974, lot 43, illustrated, where acquired by the following,
with Richard Green, London.
British Rail Pension Fund, London, acquired 1975; Sotheby's, London, 3 July 1996, lot 66, when acquired after the sale by the present owner.

Literature: Catalogue of Pictures Langley Park, 1815, no. 6.
L.J. Bol, The Bosschaert dynasty: painters of flowers and fruit, Leigh-on-Sea, 1960, p. 77, no. 59.

Exhibited: Norwich, Norwich Castle Museum, Still-life, bird and flower paintings, 8 November-4 December 1955 , no. 1.
Norwich, Norwich Castle Museum, 1972-1974, on long-term loan.
The Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, 1977-1985, on long-term loan.
Austin, Texas, The Archer M. Huntington Art Gallery, 1986-1995, on long-term loan.

Note: This exemplary still life by Balthasar van der Ast is signed and dated 1625, when the artist was working in Utrecht, having relocated there from Bergen-op-Zoom at some point between 1616 and 1619. He was entered as a master in Utrecht’s Guild of St Luke in 1619 and remained in the city until 1632, when he moved to Delft for the remainder of his career.

A pupil and brother-in-law of Ambrosius Bosschaert I (1573-1621), van der Ast entered his teacher’s household in 1609 following his own father’s death. Like Bosschaert, he painted predominantly flower and fruit still lifes, but also absorbed elements from other still life painters including Roelandt Savery, further expanding his pictorial repertoire to include a wider variety of fruits, minutely observed insects and beautifully rendered seashells. Like tulips, exotic seashells were highly desirable items in seventeenth-century Holland and vast prices were paid by collectors for the best and rarest examples.

The present work follows the format of van der Ast’s most successful horizontal compositions. Grapes, peaches, apples and plums are piled high onto a wan-li dish at centre, with a multitude of other fruits, foliage, insects and shells surrounding it. Very little of the stone ledge and background are left bare;

"the contents of the ledge are carefully and deliberately arranged around the bowl, some extending over the edge of the stone, and tendrils of foliage reaching right up into the upper right corner of the composition, each element carefully placed to complement the overall composition."