Edwaert Collier

Dr. Daniel Yat Chiu Ng (1937-2013), Hong Kong;

By whose Estate Family Trust given to the Hong Kong Philharmonic Society;

From whom acquired by the present collector, via Sotheby's private sale, 2018.

This vanitas still life, which includes an array of musical instruments, assorted manuscripts and printed volumes, and a globe, is typical of Collier's artistic output. Though Collier's career straddled Holland and England, where he spent the latter part of his life, his production of grand still lifes remained consistent throughout.

The open book bears a pair of Latin inscriptions. Though cropped, the left page offers a moralizing message: "vanitas vanitatum omnia vanitas" ("vanity of vanities, all is vanity"). The right page reads: "muisca letitiae comes medicina dolorum" ("music is a companion in pleasure and a balm in sorrow"). The pair of epigrams at once warns against the futility of life while also suggesting that solace might be found in the pursuit of music, an edifying alternative to the accumulation of worldly goods.