BALTHASAR HUYS | Still life with hens, a duck, gherkins, fruits, and a cabbage, all on a wooden table

Private collection, Sweden (according to a label on the reverse);

Anonymous sale ('The Property of a Lady'), London, Sotheby's, 5 July 1933, lot 28 (as Monogrammist BH);

Anonymous sale, Amsterdam, Sotheby's, 7 November 2000, lot 195, where acquired. 

E. Gemar-Költzsch et al, Holländische Stillebenmaler im 17. Jahrhundert, Lingen 1995, vol. III, p. 685, cat. no. 247/1, reproduced (as Monogrammist BH and erroneously as oil on canvas);

A. van der Willigen and F. Meijer, A dictionary of Dutch and Flemish still-life painters working in oils: 1525-1725, Leiden 2003, p. 115;

H.-J. Raupp (ed.), Niederländische Malerei des. 17. Jahrhunderts der SØR Rusche-Sammlung, vol. 5, Stilleben und Tierstücke, Münster/Hamburg/London 2004, pp. 146-49, cat. no. 29, reproduced in colour;

W. Pijbes, M. Aarts, M.J. Bok et al, At Home in the Golden Age, exh. cat., Zwolle 2008, p. 67, cat. no. 47, reproduced in colour.

Balthasar Huys, formerly known as the monogrammist BH, trained under Jean Baptiste Saive in Mechelen, where he became a master of the artist's guild in 1619. He likely executed the present panel, dated 1650, while he was in Rotterdam, where he was active throughout much of his late career. A vine tendril in the shape of a B is an interesting detail visible, centre left. 

1 A comparable composition by Huys, dated 1644 of smaller dimensions, was sold at Sotheby's Amsterdam, 6 November 2001, lot 77.

2 Oil on panel, 32.7 by 59 cm, formerly in the collection of H.R. van der Molen.