BALTHASAR VAN DER AST (MIDDELBURG 1593/4-1657 DELFT)
BALTHASAR VAN DER AST (MIDDELBURG 1593/4-1657 DELFT)

An Arrowhead Blue (Glaucopsyche piasus) butterfly and a Scotch Bonnet (Phalium granulatum) sea shell

Details
BALTHASAR VAN DER AST (MIDDELBURG 1593/4-1657 DELFT)
An Arrowhead Blue (Glaucopsyche piasus) butterfly and a Scotch Bonnet (Phalium granulatum) sea shell
signed with monogram 'B A'
watercolor and bodycolor on prepared paper
3¾ x 4¾ in. (95 x 120 mm.)

Lot Essay

Seventy-one studies of flowers and shells similarly signed are in the Fondation Custodia, Institut Néerlandais, Paris (Vermeer and the Delft School, exhib. cat., New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2001, cat. 96-98). Two other drawings of shells with the same monogram are in the Abrams collection (Bruegel to Rembrandt. Dutch and Flemish Drawings from the Maida and George Abrams Collection, exhib. cat., London, British Museum and elsewhere, 2002-3, cat. 102a-b).

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