Tulips, poppies, narcissi and other flowers in a sculped vase

The nomenclature 'Master of the Grotesque vases' refers to a group of artists who were painting still lifes in grotesque vases at the beginning of the 17th Century in Italy. One of them is thought to be the young Giacomo Recco. For a discussion of this group of artists see A. Vecca, in the exhibition catalogue, 'I Maestri del vaso a grottesche', in La natura morta italiana da Caravaggio al Settecento, Florence, 26 June-12 October 2003, pp. 107-9.