Lot 48. Jan Davidsz. de Heem (Utrecht 1606-1684 Antwerpt), A pewter flagon with a small roemer hanging from its spout and a Chinese Wan-li dish with fruit on a high stone ledge, a heap of pears, apples, plums, grapes and citrus fruit on a parallel low stone ledge, signed and dated ‘J.D.Heem Fecit 1627’ (lower centre), oil on panel, 61.4 x 63.3 cm. Price Realised EUR 119,700 (Estimate EUR 40,000 - EUR 60,000). © Christies 2023

Provenance: with Frieda Hinze, Berlin, 1965.
Private collection, New York.
Anonymous sale; Sotheby’s, London, 9 December 1992, lot 26 (£90,200).
J.E. Safra, New York; his sale, Sotheby’s, New York, 24 January 2002, lot 18 ($87,000).
with Johnny Van Haeften, London, 2002.
with A. Wieg, Amsterdam, where acquired by the previous owner in 2002.

Literature: E. Greindl, Les Peintres Flamands de Nature Morte au XVIIe siècle, Sterrebeek, 1983, pp. 123, 243 and 360, no. 23, fig. 122.
F.G. Meijer, ‘Jan Davidsz. de Heem's Earliest Paintings, 1626-1628’, Hoogsteder-Naumann Mercury, VII, 1988, pp. 30-32, 36, fig. 5, note 5.
F.G. Meijer, Jan Davidsz. de Heem 1606-1684, PhD dissertation, 2016, I, p. 46, no. A 004, illustrated; II, pp. 10-11, no. A 004.

Note: This still life is one of the earliest known works by Jan Davidsz. de Heem and one of only two pictures from 1627 that have survived.

De Heem most likely trained for a period of time with Balthasar van der Ast, who had registered as a member of the Guild in 1619 in Utrecht, where he stayed until 1632. Although heavily indebted to Van der Ast’s compositions with two levels from circa half a decade earlier, it appears the young De Heem, aged 20 or 21 years, here explores new elements and creates novel clusters of motifs, rather differently from how Van der Ast treated his smaller still lifes (F.G. Meijer, 1988, op. cit., p. 31). Fred Meijer has also pointed out the similarities with Johannes Torrentius’ famous still life of 1614, now in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. The spouted pewter flagon and its low vantage point are indeed much alike. Meijer argues De Heem may have seen the picture by Torrentius in Lisse in or before 1627 (F.G. Meijer, 2016, op. cit., p. 46).

We are grateful to Dr. Fred Meijer for first-hand inspection of the picture and his assistance in cataloguing this lot. This painting will be included as catalogue no. 004 in Meijer’s forthcoming monograph on De Heem, to be published in the spring of 2024.

Lot 27. Abraham van Beijeren (The Hague c.1620/1-1690 Overschie), A Pronk still life with a tall ‘façon-de-Venise’ glass, a silver tazza with peaches, apricots, grapes and cherries, a pie, a lobster and an oyster, a roll of bread and a peeled lemon on a draped table, in an interior before a stone niche, oil on canvas, 79.5 x 62.9 cm. Price Realised EUR 40,320 (Estimate EUR 30,000 - EUR 50,000). © Christies 2023

Provenance: Richard Freiherr von Friesen (1808-1884), Dresden; (†) his sale; Lempertz and Heberle, Cologne, 26 March 1885, lot 66, as Jan Davidsz. De Heem (DM 5900), where acquired by,
Wallraf-Richartz- Museum & Fondation Corboud, Cologne, as signed with monogram and on panel, and exchanged in 1943 with, the following;
J.C. Traas, The Hague.
Private collection, The Netherlands.
with Douwes, Amsterdam, 1994-1999, as signed with monogram, where acquired by the present owners in 1999 (Dfl. 300.000).

Literature: A.Bredius, ‘Die Auktion von Friesen und die neuesten Ankäufe der Kölner
Gemäldegalerie’, Kunstchronik: Beiblatt zur Zeitschrift für bildende Kunst, XX, no. 30, 7 May 1885, p. 503.
J. Niessen, Verzeichnis der Gemälde-Sammlung des Museums Wallraf-Richartz in Köln, Cologne, 1888, pp. 93-4, no. 643a, as Jan Davidsz de Heem.
Verzeichnis der Gemälde des Städtischen Museums Wallraf-Richartz zu Cöln, Cologne, 1902, p. 153, no. 647, as on panel.
Verzeichnis der Gemälde des Städtischen Museums Wallraf-Richartz zu Cöln, Cologne, 1903, p. 153, no. 647, as on panel.
Verzeichnis der Gemälde des Städtischen Museums Wallraf-Richartz zu Cöln, Cologne, 1906, p. 153, no. 647, as on panel.
Verzeichnis der Gemälde des Wallraf-Richartz-Museums der Stadt Cöln, Cologne, 1910, p. 215, no. 647, on panel.
Verzeichnis der Gemälde des Wallraf-Richartz-Museums der Stadt Cöln, Cologne, 1914, p. 235, no. 647, as on panel.
Wegweiser durch die Gemälde-Galerie des Wallraf-Richartz-Museums, Cologne, 1927, p. 74, no. 1010.
Wallraf Richartz Museum der Hansestadt Köln, Gemälde Galerie. Wegweiser und Verzeichnis, Cologne 1936, p. 35, no. 1010.
Wallraf Richartz Museum der Hansestadt Köln, Gemälde Galerie. Wegweiser und Verzeichnis, Cologne 1938, p. 33, no. 1010.
Wallraf-Richartz-Museum der Hansestadt Köln, II, Die Niederländischen, Französischen, Italienischen un Spänischen Gemälde, Cologne 1941, p. 19, 216, fig. 1010.
H.E. van Gelder, W.C. Heda, A.van Beyeren, W. Kalf, Amsterdam, 1941, p. 36, illustrated.

Note: Celebrated as one of the most versatile artists of his day, Van Beijeren was a pre-eminent painter of still lifes and one of the greatest masters of the pronk still life, of which the present work is an extraordinary example. Purchased in 1885 by the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum in Cologne as having been executed by the great still life painter Jan Davidsz. de Heem, this painting formed part of the museum’s collection for nearly sixty years. In the museum catalogue of 1902, it is for the first time recorded as by Abraham van Beijeren, but in 1885 Abraham Bredius (loc. cit.) had already commented that the museum erroneously exhibited the picture under the name De Heem whereas it is in fact a ‘wundervolles Stilleben’ (‘wonderful still life’) by Abraham van Beijeren. Its remarkable quality was also perceived by Frits Lugt (1884-1970) who, in his annotated copy of the 1885 catalogue (in the RKD, The Hague), wrote ‘ v Beijeren, van allereerste qualiteit’ (‘Van Beijeren, of very first quality’).

Abraham van Beijeren was born in The Hague in 1620 and first studied under his brother-in-law, Pieter de Putter, who was a specialist in fish still lifes. Having first become a master in The Hague in 1640, where in 1656 he helped to found the Confrerie Pictura, mounting debts forced him to move to Delft from 1657 to 1661, although he was again in The Hague between 1663 and 1669. He was then recorded in Amsterdam, Alkmaar and Gouda before settling in Overschie in 1678. Van Beijeren's pronk still lifes date from the 1650s and 1660s. These pictures generally depict a table laden with a variety of ornate glassware, gilded goblets, nautilus cups, silver dishes, Chinese porcelain, costly fruits and other delicacies, with many of the same objects appearing repeatedly in his paintings.

Lot 47. Simon Luttichuys (London 1610-1661 Amsterdam), A roemer with white wine and two peaches on a silver plate, with a golden watch, grapes, a porcelain jug with a silver lid, a tall glass, a bread roll and peaches on a draped table before a curtain, signed and dated 'S. Luttichuijs fe / 1648' (upper right), oil on canvas, laid down on board, 53.9 x 71.2 cm. Price Realised EUR 20,160 (Estimate EUR 15,000 - EUR 25,000). © Christies 2023

Provenance: In the private collection of a family for at least 100 years;
their sale; Christie’s, Amsterdam, 17 November 2015, lot 87, where acquired by the late father of the present owners (€45.900).

Note: In the present signed and 1648 dated still life Luttichuys creates an illusionism with his masterful way of handling light and depicting the textures of the various objects and fruits, preluding the work of Willem Kalf.

Simon Luttichuys began his career by painting portraits in a somewhat stiff English style. His portrait of the bishop Thomas Morton of Saint John’s College, Cambridge, completed in 1638, places him still in England. In the same year, his younger brother, Isaack (London 1616-1673 Amsterdam), is mentioned as a painter of portraits in Amsterdam. Whether Simon subsequently spent time in England with a Dutch still life painter or continued his education in The Netherlands, is not known. His first still life arrangement is dated 1644. By 1649, Simon moved to Amsterdam and quickly turned to favour banquet and ‘splendour’ still lifes, which, as Dr. Bernt Ebert has argued, were to be of strong influence on the young Willem Kalf. Although Luttichuys spent the best part of his career in The Netherlands, his fame also continued to be praised in England.

Made in Holland: Celebrating 50 Years of Christie’s Amsterdam, 26 SEP – 10 OCT 2023