Old Master Day Sale including Old Master Paintings, Drawings and British Works on Paper
Old Master Day Sale including Old Master Paintings, Drawings and British Works on Paper
The Property of a Gentleman
BALTHASAR VAN DER AST | STILL LIFE WITH A CARNATION AND A CROCUS, TWO SHELLS, AND A DRAGONFLY, SPIDER AND FLIES, ALL ON A STONE LEDGE
Lot Closed
July 29, 12:23 PM GMT
Estimate
20,000 - 30,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
The Property of a Gentleman
BALTHASAR VAN DER AST
Middelburg 1593/94 - 1657 Delft
STILL LIFE WITH A CARNATION AND A CROCUS, TWO SHELLS, AND A DRAGONFLY, SPIDER AND FLIES, ALL ON A STONE LEDGE
signed lower centre: ·B· van der. Ast·
oil on copper
unframed: 10.2 x 17 cm.; 4 x 6¾ in.
framed: 18.5 x 25.5 cm.; 7¼ x 10 in.
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Small-scale still lifes of informal and modest arrangements of flowers sparsely arranged with shells and insects are among Van der Ast's most appealing works. Comparable signed and undated still lifes of flowers and shells pictured on a ledge, of similar dimensions, include the paintings on copper formerly with Koetser,1 and on display in the Stedelijk Museum Het Prinsenhof, Delft (inv. no. NK 2709).2 A painting of almost identical description, dated 1636, was last recorded in the collection of Jonkheer H. van Rijckevorsel van Kessel, St. Oedenrode, in 1935.3
We are grateful to Dr Fred G. Meijer for his enthusiastic response to the present work, and for suggesting it might also date to around 1636, on the basis of a digital image.
1 https://rkd.nl/explore/images/119966
2 https://rkd.nl/explore/images/7336
3 See L.J. Bol, The Bosschaert Dynasty. Painters of flowers and fruit, Leigh-on-Sea 1960, p. 75, cat. no. 44.