The present picture is among the earliest known dated works by the artist, although there is one of 1661 (N. R. A. Vroom, A Modest Message as intimated by the painters of the 'Monochrome Banketje', 1980, I, p.137 and p.136, pl.179, colour; II, p.43, no.189) and there are four of 1662. The same astrological globe is depicted in a vanitas still-life in the Museum der bildenden Künste, Leipzig (exhibited at Dresden, Albertinum, Das Stilleben und sein Gegenstand, 23 Sept.-30 Nov. 1983, p.105, no.34, and pl.58)