Roses and an iris in a glass vase, crabs and prawns on a pewter platter, a bread roll, a roemer and fish on a partly draped table

The son of the composer Emanuel Adriaenssen and brother of the artists Vincent and Nicolaes Adriaenssen, Alexander was apprenticed in 1597 to Artus van Laeck, becoming a master in the Antwerp painters' guild in 1610. Adriaenssen's oeuvre consists entirely of still lifes, mainly of food on tables with copper- and tinware, glass and pottery (for example the Still life with Fish of 1660 in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam). Much rarer are his flower still lifes, consisiting of four works depicting single vases and a small group, including the present picture, that include such an element within a larger composition. Another such work, with which this picture is closely comparable, was sold in these Rooms, 26 July 1968, lot 158 (2,800 gns.).

We are grateful to Mr. Fred Meijer of the RKD for confirming the attribution to Adriaenssen on the basis of photographs. Mr. Meijer notes that stylistically the date of 1656 would fit within the context of the artist's oeuvre; it may be, therefore, that the monogram of Adriaen van Beyeren is an adaptation of a genuine one of Adriaenssen's beneath.