Jan van Kessel the Elder

With Kunsthandel M. Wolff, Amsterdam, 1938;
Dr. Hans Wetzlar, Amsterdam, by 1959.

Laren, 1959, no. 55.

E. Greindl, Les peintures flamands de nature morte au XVIIème siècle, Brussels 1956, p. 365, no. 7 (the former only);
Voorkeuren, p. 42, both reproduced p. 43.

"The following condition report has been provided by Sarah Walden, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. These two small paintings are on fine bevelled oak panels. There are occasional faint old cracks but no trace of structural instability since the distant past, or of movement at all. There has been no recent restoration and the old varnish is quite yellowed with occasional little patches where it has flaked away from the paint surface. Butterflies, Moths and insects with redcurrants and forget me not. The varnish has been chipped away over the last figure of the date and the four is slightly reinforced. This panel has had a few little cracks across the middle, with some old retouching from centre left around the top of the ant across to the redcurrants with the last two currants on the right retouched. There is another short smudged line near the top left corner by the antennae of the bee. Otherwise the enamelled surface is exceedingly well preserved, with beautifully intact beetles near the base, fine whitish butterfly or moth in the centre and perfect soft detail in the brown butterfly at upper right, with many other intact areas. Butterflies, moths and insects with thistle and borage. The signature on this panel is rather crisper, with a tiny old retouching just above the fecit. There are a few old retouchings between the beetles in the right corner, and around the insect at the centre right edge, where there were small old cracks, and a minute touch in the central background. Otherwise all the detail is perfectly intact against the polished ivory ground. This report was not done in laboratory conditions."
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

Van Kessel painted a number of very similar small studies on prepared panels such as this in circa 1653-5, developing them on a slightly larger scale, often on copper supports, up until about 1660.  A similar pair, on similarly sized panels, incorporating several of the same elements: the Kleine Vos butterfly, the redcurrants and the forget-me-not, for example; was with Kurt Müllenmeister.¹

Among other similar works by Van Kessel that have appeared on the market recently are two of similar size, dated 1653: London, Sotheby's, 3 July 1997, lot 13 (£238,000) & lot 14 (£221,500); a larger single work on copper, dated 1659: London, Christie's, 18 April 1997, lot 93 (£200,000); and two slightly larger unsigned works on copper: New York, Sotheby's, 28 January 2000, lot 115 ($745,000) & lot 116 ($635,000).

1. See Greindl, under Literature, pp. 156-7, both reproduced in colour.