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Lot Essay
We are grateful to Professor Pamela Hibbs Decoteau for confirming the attribution, on the basis of photographs, and for her assistance in cataloguing this lot.
This hitherto unpublished painting is an important addition to the oeuvre of Clara Peeters. It belongs to a group of five other pictures with cheesestacks (Carter collection, California [P. Hibbs Decoteau, Clara Peeters and the Development of Still Life Painting in Nothern Europe, Lingen, 1992, p. 181, no. 22, pl. IX]; present location unknown, formerly Westermann collection, Amsterdam [ibid., no. 23]; private collection, Amsterdam [ibid., no. 24]; present location unknown, formerly A. von Welie collection, The Hague [ibid., no. 29]; and the picture with Richard Green, London, 1998); held together by clear geometric patterns, and seen from a low viewpoint, they represent an important step in Peeters' experiments with compact compositions.
Although none of the group are dated, Professor Hibbs Decoteau regards them as having been painted between 1620 and the early 1630s. She regards the present work as relating in particular to the pictures in the Westermann and Von Welie collections. However, the viewing angle seems closest to the Westerman work: the present picture does not have the low viewing angle of the Von Welie painting, Professor Hibbs Decoteau therefore would date this work to the l620s rather than the l630s.
The knife in the foreground appears in at least five of Peeters' paintings, ranging in date from l6ll to the l630s (ibid., no. 29; the Still life with a pie in the Prado, Madrid [ibid., no. 6]; the Still life with fruit and flowers in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford [ibid., no. 20]; the Still life with a pie in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; and the Green Cheesestack). Peeters also repeated others of the objects at times - the Venetian wineglass with butterfly handles (ibid., nos. 23 and 24 and a Still life of seafood and wine in Poltava Art Museum, Russia [ibid., no. l6]); the pewter plate of crayfish (ibid., no. l6 and a still life of fish in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Antwerp [ibid., no. 27]); and the short ceramic Friesen/Westehall jug behind the stack of cheese (ibid., no. 29, the still life with an artichoke in a private collection, Germany [ibid., no. 2l], and the Green Cheesestack).
As noted by Dr J.R. ter Molen in a letter of the 7 August 2001, the type of knife, a bruidsmessen, depicted in the present picture was made from circa 1590-1620 in both the United Provinces and Flanders; similar examples are in the collections of the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, the Musées Royaux des Beaux Arts, Brussels, and the Gemeentemuseum, The Hague. None of these knives bear marks of silversmiths, however the decorations on their blades follow engravings by Jan Dirk de Bry (1528-1589). They are generally thought to have served ceremonial functions at weddings, as most examples bear a female name with in some instances a date and a motto such as Liefde verwinnet al ('Love conquers all').
This hitherto unpublished painting is an important addition to the oeuvre of Clara Peeters. It belongs to a group of five other pictures with cheesestacks (Carter collection, California [P. Hibbs Decoteau, Clara Peeters and the Development of Still Life Painting in Nothern Europe, Lingen, 1992, p. 181, no. 22, pl. IX]; present location unknown, formerly Westermann collection, Amsterdam [ibid., no. 23]; private collection, Amsterdam [ibid., no. 24]; present location unknown, formerly A. von Welie collection, The Hague [ibid., no. 29]; and the picture with Richard Green, London, 1998); held together by clear geometric patterns, and seen from a low viewpoint, they represent an important step in Peeters' experiments with compact compositions.
Although none of the group are dated, Professor Hibbs Decoteau regards them as having been painted between 1620 and the early 1630s. She regards the present work as relating in particular to the pictures in the Westermann and Von Welie collections. However, the viewing angle seems closest to the Westerman work: the present picture does not have the low viewing angle of the Von Welie painting, Professor Hibbs Decoteau therefore would date this work to the l620s rather than the l630s.
The knife in the foreground appears in at least five of Peeters' paintings, ranging in date from l6ll to the l630s (ibid., no. 29; the Still life with a pie in the Prado, Madrid [ibid., no. 6]; the Still life with fruit and flowers in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford [ibid., no. 20]; the Still life with a pie in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; and the Green Cheesestack). Peeters also repeated others of the objects at times - the Venetian wineglass with butterfly handles (ibid., nos. 23 and 24 and a Still life of seafood and wine in Poltava Art Museum, Russia [ibid., no. l6]); the pewter plate of crayfish (ibid., no. l6 and a still life of fish in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Antwerp [ibid., no. 27]); and the short ceramic Friesen/Westehall jug behind the stack of cheese (ibid., no. 29, the still life with an artichoke in a private collection, Germany [ibid., no. 2l], and the Green Cheesestack).
As noted by Dr J.R. ter Molen in a letter of the 7 August 2001, the type of knife, a bruidsmessen, depicted in the present picture was made from circa 1590-1620 in both the United Provinces and Flanders; similar examples are in the collections of the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, the Musées Royaux des Beaux Arts, Brussels, and the Gemeentemuseum, The Hague. None of these knives bear marks of silversmiths, however the decorations on their blades follow engravings by Jan Dirk de Bry (1528-1589). They are generally thought to have served ceremonial functions at weddings, as most examples bear a female name with in some instances a date and a motto such as Liefde verwinnet al ('Love conquers all').