Adriaen van Utrecht

Lord Lee of Fareham;
Probably Samuel Courtauld, 12 North Audley Street, and by inheritance through his son-in-law, R.A. Butler, Baron Butler of Saffron Walden, to the present owner.

E. Greindl, Les Peintres Flamands de nature morte au XVIIe siècle, Sterrebeek 1969, p. 385, no. 29;
R. Warner, Dutch and Flemish Flower and Fruit Painters of the XVIIth and XVIIIth Centuries, Hadamer 1975, pp. 214-5, reproduced plate 102a;
S.A. Sullivan, The Dutch Gamepiece, Ottawa 1984, p. 85, under note 18.

The following conditionr report is provided by Rebecca Gregg who is an external expert and not an employee of Sotheby's. The original canvas appears in good condition, there is a distinct canvas texture which appears stable. There are very small planar deformations along the lower edge which probably relate to debris behind the lower stretcher member and the overall tension is good. The stretcher is sound and all the keys are present. The paint layers appear in good condition, there are no recent damages or loss and the adhesion between the paint and ground layers and the support appears good. There is a network of raised craqulure across the surface which appears stable. There are scattered small retouchings throughout the painting; these minor areas of over-paint are not visually disturbing. The painting has been partially cleaned; the thick natural resin varnish has been preferentially removed from the lighter areas of the composition. The relatively large areas of discoloured varnish fluoresce strongly in ultra violet light. The painting was examined in the frame.
"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."

A large number of still lifes by Adriaen van Utrecht on this scale survive from the years 1646-7, a time when he received one of the most important commissions of his career: to supply paintings, in collaboration with Thomas Willeboirts Bosschaert, for the decoration of Prince Frederik Hendrik's Huis ten Bosch in The Hague. Two similarly grand still lifes from 1647 are in the Statens Museum for Kunst in Copenhagen, and the Gemäldegalerie in Dresden.¹ Most of these works are populated with exotic creatures such as parrots or the monkey that here is seen picking cherries. This monkey, of which the artist must have made a drawing, in fact recurs in a 1646-dated still life in which, furthermore, the elements are arranged on the same wooden table.²

1. See Greindl, under Literature, p. 385, nos. 21 and 23.
2. Sold in these Rooms, 9 July 2008, lot 36.