Willem Kalf

Freiherr Dr. Schwarz von Seeborn, Vienna;
Anonymous sale, Amsterdam, Mensing, 13 July 1926, lot 737;
Anonymous sale, Amsterdam, Mensing, 20-22 June 1928, lot 29, for 2,100 Guilders to Goudstikker;
With Jacques Goudstikker, Amsterdam, 1928;
S. Buchenau, Niendorf;
F. Buchenau, Solingen, 1934-1939;
With J. Böhler, Munich, 1963;
Anonymous sale, Paris, 20 March 1964, lot 39;
Dr. Hans Wetzlar, Amsterdam, after 1964.

Amsterdam, Goudstikker, Catalogue des nouvelles acquisitions de la collection Goudstikker, no. 35, October - November 1928, no. 17;
Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, on loan 1934-39;
Laren, 1966, no. 28;
Rotterdam, Museum Boymans Van Beuningen, Gemaltes Licht.  Die Stilleben von Willem Kalf, 2006, no. 4.

H.E. van Gelder, W.C. Heda, A. van Beyeren, W. Kalf (Palet series), Amsterdam 1941, reproduced p. 41;
A. Heppner, "Rotterdam as the centre of a Dutch Teniers Group", in Art in America, vol. 34, 1946, pp. 15-29, reproduced fig. 13;
L.I. Grisebach, Willem Kalf, Berlin 1974, p. 218, no. 20, reproduced fig. 22;
Voorkeuren, 1985, p. 40, reproduced;
J. Giltaij, in J.G. Giltaij, F.G. Meijer, et al., Gemaltes Licht. Die Stilleben von Willem Kalf, exhibition catalogue, Berlin 2007, p. 48, no. 4, reproduced.

"The following condition report has been provided by Henry Gentle, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. The oak panel has been cradled and is in a good condition aside from an unstable vertical hairline split to the top right hand corner, along which there are some restorations. The paint is raised along vertical shrinkage cracks, and unstable with restoration to previous minor losses. There are areas where the image has been broken up by a filigree of pale shrinkage cracks, this is most noticeable in the lower left corner, through the still life of vegetables and up through the trunk of the main tree. Here and there attempts to reduce this can be seen. Generally, there has been little interference to the painting and it is in a good original condition with well preserved paint texture and delicate scumbles and glazes intact. Removal of the discoloured varnish would improve the tonality. Offered in a plain moulded dark wood frame, with some worm damage."
"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."

This is a characteristic work from Kalf's early Paris period, when he painted a number of still lifes of vegetables and fruit with peasants in an outdoor setting, often, as here, with a distant view of Paris.