The Cock and the Pearl

Details

Studio of Frans Snyders (1579-1657)
The Cock and the Pearl
oil on canvas
66½ x 94½in. (169 x 240cm.)

Provenance

(Probably) Thomas, Lord Coningsby (d. 1729), and by descent at Hampton Court, Leominster, Herefordshire, until 1912, when sold with the house to Mrs. Burrell, until 1924, when sold with the house to
Viscountess Hereford, and by descent to his grandson,
the 18th Viscount Hereford (b. 1932).

Lot Essay

Thomas, Lord Coningsby, formed a substantial collection of pictures, including the celebrated series of views of Hampton Court now in the Mellon Collection. These complemented his Gothic remodelling of the house and remained there until 1973.

A version by Snyders showing only the central part of the composition (98.5 x 95cm.) is in the Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum, Aachen (H. Robels, Frans Snyders, 1989, pp. 309-10, no. 202, illustrated). The landscape in the present picture is by another hand, close to Jan Wildens.

The subject is taken from the Fable of Phædrus, III, 12.

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