A basket of fruit on a stone ledge with a pineapple, a bird, insects, a ceramic ewer and a two-handled stone vase sculpted with classical figures

After a short apprenticeship in Antwerp with Jan Frans van Dael, Christiaan van Pol moved to Paris where he established himself as a decorative painter. He specialized in still life paintings and in miniatures to decorate snuffbox lids. When his master van Dael also moved to France, around 1786, they began to work together and collaborated on a series of important decorative projects for the châteaux in Bellevue, Chantilly and St. Cloud.

This and the following lot are finely executed gouaches on paper. They showcase van Pol’s skills as a miniaturist and display the artist’s ability to observe intensely nature and render the different material surfaces in almost microscopic detail.