Lot 35: Balthasar van der Ast (Middelburg 1593/4-1657 Delft)

Apples, pears and a branch of mulberries in a basket, with plums, shells, a wasp, a Red Admiral, a grasshopper, a caterpillar and a fly on a ledge oil on panel 11 7/8 x 183/4 in. (30.2 x 47.6 cm.) PROVENANCE Acquired in circa 1925-1930 by Jean Willems, President of the Brussels stock exchange, and thence by descent to the present owners. NOTES The brother-in-law and pupil of Ambosius Bosschaert I, Van der Ast also painted predominantly flower and fruit still lifes; however, as a new element he also included shells, probably a reflection of the fashion of the time for collecting exotic rarities. His oeuvre of roughly two hundred paintings is larger than that of his teacher, although the chronology of Van der Ast's work is more difficult to establish as his only dated works are all from 1620-28. Moreover, his compositions are more diverse, with fewer exact repetitions. The shells depicted in the present picture are a Panther Cowrie ( Cypraea pantherina ; Solander in Lighfoot, 1786) from the Red Sea (rear left); a Rough Turban ( Turbo setosus ; Gmelin, 1791) from the Indo-Pacific (front left); a West Indian Top ( Cittarium pica ; Linnaeus, 1758) from the Caribbean (centre); and a Subulate Augur ( Terebra subulata ; Linnaeus, 1767) from the Indo-Pacific (right).