This painting derives from the famous Allegory of the Treasures of the Sea, also called Coral fishing, in the Galleria Borghese in Rome. The Borghese painting was possibly painted by Jacopo Zucchi in Florence, when he was contributing to the Studiolo of Francesco I in the Palazzo Vecchio, and not in Rome, where he spent most of his career. The subject is typical of the kind of art being produced for the Studiolo and the Borghese picture was almost certainly a Medici commission.
Sold with a copy of a letter from Professor Giuliano Briganti (dated 1 October 1992) in which he describes the painting as one of three autograph versions, the others being the above mentioned in the Galleria Borghese and one in the Museum in Lviv, Ukraine.