Portrait of Frans van Mieris, half-length, smoking a clay pipe; and Portrait of his wife, Cunera van der Cock, in a blue and white dress with a red velvet shawl, a spaniel on her lap

We are grateful to Mr. Otto Naumann for his assistance in cataloguing this lot, after examination of the two portraits.

These pictures are based on a self-portrait by Frans van Mieris, and its pendant, a portrait of his wife, Cunera van der Cock, both signed and dated 1662, now in a private collection, United States. Although the present pair are listed as copies in the literature cited, Mr. Otto Naumann believes that a possible attribution to Willem van Mieris is justifiable. At least one pair of copies of the original pair by Willem van Mieris is known to exist (O. Naumann, op. cit., pp. 51-3, nos. 43a and 44a).