Lot Essay
The composition is very close to a small tapestry after Cornelis van Spaendonck (op. cit., no. 320) in which the morning glory is replaced by two tulips. The silk cloth is also represented in an oval miniature in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge (op. cit., p. 140, no. 59 and p. 47, no. 19). The Cornelis van Spaendonck sale in 1840 in Paris, no. 140, mentions 'différentes fleurs posées sur une étoffe blanche et sur une tablette de marbre; esquisse'. That design might have been made for the tapestry, or for an unknown painting. We are grateful to Dr. Sam Segal for his assistance with cataloguing the present lot.