Lot 107: * BALTHASAR VAN DER AST MIDDELBERG 1593/94 - 1657 DELFT

signed in monogram lower right BA

STILL LIFE OF ROSES, TULIPS, IRISES, AN AFRICAN MARIGOLD AND OTHER FLOWERS IN A ROEMER RESTING ON A LEDGE, WITH TWO SHELLS, A BUTTERFLY AND OTHER INSECTS

14 5/8 by 11 1/4 in.; 37 by 28.5 cm.

oil on panel

Amsterdam, De Nieuwe Kerk, The Tulip and the Art, 1994, no. 9

S. Segal, in The Tulip and the Art, exhibition catalogue, Amsterdam 1994, pp. 95-97, reproduced fig. 13

PROPERTY OF A PRIVATE COLLECTOR

Anonymous sale, Amsterdam, Frederik Muller, May 14, 1912, lot 102;
Baroness Treusch von Buttlar Brandenfels;
Her sale, London, Sotheby's, March 11, 1964, lot 132, for £10,600 to Mrs. Andrews;
acquired by the present owner in 1995.

We are grateful to Fred Meijer who has seen the present painting and confirms it to be a work by Balthasar van der Ast. In his opinion, it is a characteristic early work by the artist, datable to circa 1621-1622. The present painting is signed with the artist's initials, unusual for van der Ast who usually signed in full. This same monogram appears on a pair of still lifes, formerly in the Schloss collection which, although published by L.J. Bol as by Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder (see The Bosschaert Dynasty, Leigh-on-Sea 1980, cat. nos. 12 and 13, reproduced plate 9), Meijer also believes to be early works by van der Ast of circa 1620. The composition of one of the former Schloss paintings is strikingly similar to that of the present work, with the same arrangement of the two irises and tulips at the top, the same roemer and two shells lower left. It appears that van der Ast only signed in monogram in the years before 1622 and thereafter signed his name in full.

Sam Segal has also seen the present painting and has confirmed it to be a work by van der Ast. However, he dates it to a later period in the artist's career, to circa 1640-45. He compares the monogram to that found on a large group of watercolors which were at one time attributed to van der Ast, then re-attributed to Bartholomeus Assteyn, and which he believes should be restored to van der Ast. These watercolors were once probably bound into an album, but have now been spread over many collections. The series includes at least 50 sheets of tulips and 24 of shells, most of them in the Frits Lugt collection in Paris.