A Melon, Pineapple, Grapes and other Fruits on a Tray, with a silver gilt Flagon on a marble Ledge

In her recent survey of the Norwich School, Josephine Walpole writes of Eloise Stannard's still-lifes: 'Having said in an interview that she only painted from nature, the questioner asked her what she did in winter time? Eloise replied, 'Oh, I put the gold in my paintings'. This, of course, quite baffled the interviewer until she explained that the still-life additions to her flowers and fruit, for instance the borrowed Coronation plate...not only added contrast and effect but also had no dependency on the seasons' (J. Walpole, Art & Artists of the Norwich School, Woodbridge, 1997, p. 62).

The flagon in the present work, with its intricate chasing, appears to be of an early 17th Century design and is similar to a pair in the collection of Queen's College, Oxford (see H. Moffat, Old Oxford Plate, London, 1906, no. XXII).