One of relatively few still-lives painted by Boudin, the current painting was purchased by the director of the Musée du Havre, Adolphe-Hippolyte Couveley, directly from the artist in January 1860. Couveley was director of the museum from 1815 to 1867 and was personally responsible for obtaining an allowance of 1200 francs a year for Boudin from the Council of Le Havre in 1850. This allowed him to study in Paris from where Thomas Couture wrote to the Council congratulating them on their support of the twenty-six year old painter saying 'Je suis heureux de pouvoir certifier que M. Boudin est un artiste de talent et de grand avenir et... sera un jour, j'en suis certain, une des gloires de notre école moderne' (Paris, 6 Dec. 1850).

In return for his grant Boudin gave several still-lives to Couveley's museum including a sister piece to the present painting.