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Lot Essay
This composition relates to that of a painting traditionally attributed to Albert Eckhout in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, which has more recently been associated with Andries Beeckman (see Travellers and Traders in the Indian Ocean World, Welshpool DC, exhibition catalogue, 2016). Comparison with the work in Amsterdam suggests that our painting is in all probability the model on which the Rijksmuseum version is based. The present painting is not only executed on a somewhat larger scale, but the still life elements are rendered with greater sophistication and detail. Among other details, the patterns of the pineapple and other fruit skins in this work are more nuanced, as are both the drawing of the melons at lower right (conceived as simple globes in the Rijksmuseum version) and the rendering of the salmon-crested cockatoo's plumage.
While the charming naiveté of the figures and still life elements likely accounts for the traditional association with Eckhout, the painting’s subject matter all but precludes such an attribution. Between 1637 and 1640 Eckhout accompanied Frans Post on an expedition funded by the Dutch West India Company and led by Prince Johan Maurits, Prince of Nassau-Siegen and Dutch governor of Brazil. Much like Post, Eckhout’s early experiences in South America provided him a seemingly endless array of motifs upon his return to the Dutch Republic. That the subject of this painting derives from the East – rather than West – Indies lends additional credence to its association with Beeckman. Little is known of Beeckman, a soldier from Zutphen who traveled to Batavia (Jakarta) as a soldier in 1655, living there until he arrived back in Amsterdam in July 1658. Documents indicate that in April 1662 the Amsterdam Chamber of the Dutch East India Company paid him the hefty sum of 240 guilders to produce two paintings, which he delivered the following year. He was buried in Amsterdam on 9 August 1664. Only one signed still life by Beeckman is known today, a work that displays a similar treatment of fruit to the present work (fig. 1).
Each of the fruits displayed in this market stall – ramboutan, durian, pineapple, bananas, coconuts and guava – is native to Indonesia. Unlike contemporary views of Dutch market scenes, which tend to include a topographical view of the market place, the artist here has zoomed in on the market stall itself as a means of emphasizing the exoticism of both the people and goods depicted. As was typical of such stalls, a Chinese man, shown counting money, is the proprietor here. The Javanese woman to his right lifts betel leaves, a local plant chewed communally as a gesture of peace and friendship, from a lacquered Japanese sirih box. This local practice was derided by Dutch visitors, who did not appreciate that it stained the chewer's teeth red.
While the charming naiveté of the figures and still life elements likely accounts for the traditional association with Eckhout, the painting’s subject matter all but precludes such an attribution. Between 1637 and 1640 Eckhout accompanied Frans Post on an expedition funded by the Dutch West India Company and led by Prince Johan Maurits, Prince of Nassau-Siegen and Dutch governor of Brazil. Much like Post, Eckhout’s early experiences in South America provided him a seemingly endless array of motifs upon his return to the Dutch Republic. That the subject of this painting derives from the East – rather than West – Indies lends additional credence to its association with Beeckman. Little is known of Beeckman, a soldier from Zutphen who traveled to Batavia (Jakarta) as a soldier in 1655, living there until he arrived back in Amsterdam in July 1658. Documents indicate that in April 1662 the Amsterdam Chamber of the Dutch East India Company paid him the hefty sum of 240 guilders to produce two paintings, which he delivered the following year. He was buried in Amsterdam on 9 August 1664. Only one signed still life by Beeckman is known today, a work that displays a similar treatment of fruit to the present work (fig. 1).
Each of the fruits displayed in this market stall – ramboutan, durian, pineapple, bananas, coconuts and guava – is native to Indonesia. Unlike contemporary views of Dutch market scenes, which tend to include a topographical view of the market place, the artist here has zoomed in on the market stall itself as a means of emphasizing the exoticism of both the people and goods depicted. As was typical of such stalls, a Chinese man, shown counting money, is the proprietor here. The Javanese woman to his right lifts betel leaves, a local plant chewed communally as a gesture of peace and friendship, from a lacquered Japanese sirih box. This local practice was derided by Dutch visitors, who did not appreciate that it stained the chewer's teeth red.