A trompe l'oeil still life with a gun, a bird in a cage, a hunting horn, gun powder, and other hunting implements hanging on a wall

The principal dating feature of the hunting equipment in this composition is the flintlock sporting gun, characteristic of a type produced circa 1645-50 in northern Germany and the Low Countries. The other items hanging below the gun, the hunting horn, the game pouch, the powder-horns, powder-flasks and shot-flasks, are all standard of the same date and region. The relatively small size of the cage would suggest its use for holding a small type of hunting bird, most probably a kestrel.

The painting of game and hunting equipment became a still-life speciality in Haarlem during the second half of the seventeenth century. The trompe l'oeil of hunting guns, horns, nets and other sporting paraphernalia was first introduced by Cornelis Brize in 1658 and quickly proved a popular theme among a number of artists including Johannes Leemans and his brother Antonius.