Jan Fris
STILL LIFE WITH AN EARTHENWARE JUG, A DECK OF CARDS AND SMOKING PARAPHERNALIA
Details & Cataloguing
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Jan Fris
AMSTERDAM 1627/8 - 1672
STILL LIFE WITH AN EARTHENWARE JUG, A DECK OF CARDS AND SMOKING PARAPHERNALIA
Provenance
J. Danser Nijman, Amsterdam;
Macalester Loup, The Hague;
Henry Philip Hope (1774-1839), London;
Thence by descent to his nephew Henry Thomas Hope (1808-1862), London;
By whom bequeathed to his widow, Anne Adèle Bichat;
By whom bequeathed to her grandson, Henry Francis Hope Pelham-Clinton-Hope, (1866–1941) 8th Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyne, in 1884;
With Asher Wertheimer, London, 1889;
With Duits, London;
Alfred Brod, 1956.
Macalester Loup, The Hague;
Henry Philip Hope (1774-1839), London;
Thence by descent to his nephew Henry Thomas Hope (1808-1862), London;
By whom bequeathed to his widow, Anne Adèle Bichat;
By whom bequeathed to her grandson, Henry Francis Hope Pelham-Clinton-Hope, (1866–1941) 8th Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyne, in 1884;
With Asher Wertheimer, London, 1889;
With Duits, London;
Alfred Brod, 1956.
Exhibited
Providence 1964, no. 8;
New York, Finch College 1966, no. 11;
Birmingham, 1995, no. 6;
New Orleans 1997, no. 19;
Baltimore 1999, no. 18.
New York, Finch College 1966, no. 11;
Birmingham, 1995, no. 6;
New Orleans 1997, no. 19;
Baltimore 1999, no. 18.
Literature
S. Nihom-Nijstad, Reflets du Siècle d'Or. Tableaux Hollandaise du dix-septième siècle, Collection Frits Lugt, Paris 1983, p. 52;
New Orleans 1997, pp. 49-50, cat. no. 19, reproduced p. 50;
Baltimore 1999, pp. 48-49, cat. no. 18, reproduced p. 49.
New Orleans 1997, pp. 49-50, cat. no. 19, reproduced p. 50;
Baltimore 1999, pp. 48-49, cat. no. 18, reproduced p. 49.
Catalogue Note
These modest toebackje, or so-called tobacco still lifes, gained popularity in the Dutch Republic from the 1620s onward and compositions such as this constituted the greater part of Jan Fris’ output. The earliest signed example by the artist, recorded with Nystad, Paris in 1960, dates to 1647 and he returned to the subject repeatedly throughout his career, into the early 1670s.1 The artist’s toebackje are characterized by a simple, monochrome palette, subtly punctuated by the crisp white of the pipe and papers. The artist included a German Westerwald earthenware jug, bearing the three Xs of the Amsterdam coat-of-arms and the pijpentest or brazier, specifically associated with the variety of Gouda pipe shown here. Both the jug and brazier would be datable to circa 1640.
In her 1983 catalogue (see Literature), Saskia Nihom-Nijstad compares this painting with a signed panel at the Fondation Custodia, Paris.2 The Paris panel, though somewhat larger in size, measuring 16 1/8 by 12 3/8 in.; 41 by 32.5 cm., includes the same elements of smoking paraphernalia. The present composition, however, differs in the inclusion of a deck of cards, piled in the background behind the pitcher. This still life appears to be a simple allegory of leisure and humble recreation. Yet the playing cards, coupled with the tobacco and pitcher, could be viewed as a warning against the vices of gambling, smoking and drinking.3
1. F.G. Meijer and A. van der Willigen, A Dictionary of Dutch and Flemish Still-life Painters Working in Oils, 1525-1725, Leiden 2003, p. 85.
2. S. Nihom-Nijstad, under Literature, cat. no. 30.
3. New Orleans 1997, under Literature.
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