Strawberries and peaches in a Wanli Kraak porselein bowl, an orange, a peeled lemon and pomegranate seeds and a ham on pewter plates, a lit taper, a Venetian glass, a flute, a roemer on a silver box, bread rolls, a gourd, blackberries and orange bl

The present work is fully accepted by Dr. Sam Segal in a report, dispatched 23 April 1998; he dates it to c. 1670, and compares it with the still life of 1667 in Brussels (Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, no. 3166). He points out that most of the components were first introduced in works by de Heem of the 1640s. The sprig of laurel placed on the roemer first occurs in the still life in Berlin (Staatliche Museen Preussicher Kulturbesitz, no. 3/75) of which a copy by Jacob Marrel is dated 1649; a ham first appears in the still life at Toledo of 1646 (S. Segal, Jan Davidsz. de Heem en Zijn Kring, 's-Gravenhage, 1991, p. 35, fig. 11), and other elements are depicted in the Louvre picture of 1640.

Mr. Fred Meijer of the Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie also accepts that the present lot is by Jan Davidsz. de Heem and dates it to the late 1660s or early 1670s; he will include it in his forthcoming catalogue raisonné of the paintings of de Heem.