Clara Peeters (Antwerp ?1589-after 1657), Apples, cherries, apricots and other fruit in a basket, with pears, plums, robins, a woodpecker, a parrot and a monkey eating nuts, on a table

indistinctly signed 'CLARA _ P...' (lower left); oil on panel; 18¾ x 25¾ in. (47.6 x 65.5 cm.). Est. £25,000 - £35,000. Lot sold £103,250 

Provenance: Mr and Mrs K. Muller, by 1953.
(Possibly) J. Singer, London.
Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, London, 6 July 1966, lot 125 (1048 gns. to Miss Belleri).

Literature: H. Decoteau, Clara Peeters and the Development of Still-Life Painting in Northern Europe, Lingen, 1992, pp. 44-6 and 194, fig. III. 31.

Exhibited: London, Royal Academy, Flemish Art 1300-1700, 1953-4, no. 377.

Notes: We are grateful to Professor Pamela Hibbs Decoteau for noting that this painting is a 'beautiful example from the artist's latest period' (private correspondence, January 2009). She dates this and another work of the same subject (location unknown) to the 1630s.

Christie's. Old Master Pictures. 24 April 2009. London, King Street www.christies.com Photo: Christie's Images Ltd 2009