Felipe Ramírez is well-known as the painter of one of the most celebrated Spanish still-lifes of the 17th Century, the Cardoon, Irises in a Goblet, a Partridge and Bunches of Grapes in a Casement, signed and dated 1628, which has been in the Prado since 1940 (illustrated in all the literature cited above). The cardoon in the picture follows closely that in the masterpiece by Juan Sánchez Cotán, signed and dated 1602, acquired by the Prado from the collection of the Dukes of Hernani in 1991 (Pérez Sánchez, op. cit., 1983-4, p.31, no.3, illustrated; ibid., 1987, p.19, pl.3
in colour), and it has been suggested that the whole of Ramírez's composition might derive from a lost work by Sánchez Cotán. The quality of Ramírez's picture is, however, far from that of a copy; as Pérez Sánchez has written (op. cit., 1983-4, p.35) 'Es obra capital que, de no estar firmada, podría pasar por obra de Sánchez Cotán' and it alone is sufficient to establish the artist as the most significant of Sánchez Cotán's disciples.

The signature on the present picture, which is in the same form as that on the Prado still-life (for a facsimile of the latter, see idem, p.216), identifies it as the only other known painting by the artist. Like the still-life, it is based on a much earlier prototype, in this case a late 16th century work of smaller size (120 x 100cm.) in Toledo Cathedral