Lot 38: Hendrik Gerritsz. Pot , Amsterdam 1580/81 - 1657 An elegant merry company, seated around an abundantly laid table, drinking, in a richly decorated interior oil on panel, the reverse with an unidentified panel maker's mark

oil on panel, the reverse with an unidentified panel maker's mark

measurements note 36.7 by 48.1 cm.

Rijksdienst Beeldende Kunst/The Netherlandish Office for the Fine Arts, Old master paintings. An illustrated summary catalogue, Zwolle/Den Haag 1992, p. 243, no. 2101, inv. no. NK2244.

Private collection, Paris, until June 1920;
Anonymous sale, Amsterdam, Frederik Muller, 29 June 1920, lot 9, as by Isaac Elias;
Galerie van Diemen & Co., Berlin;
Their sale, Berlin, Paul Graupe, 25/26 January 1935, lot 46, reproduced plate 24, as by Hendrik Gerritsz. Pot;
With P. de Boer, Amsterdam, by 1938, from whom acquired by J.F.M. Sterck, Aerdenhout (died 31 August 1941);
Thence by descent to J.M. Sterck-Proot, Aerdenhout;
With D.A. Hoogendijk & Co., Amsterdam, acquired on 29 October 1941, and sold to the Rheinisches Landesmuseum, Bonn on 17 July 1942, through Rademacher;
Marienstadt Convent, Marienstadt;
Stichting Nederlands Kunstbezit, The Hague, 1950, inv. no. 2796;
Dienst voor 's Rijks Verspreidende Kunstvoorwerpen, The Hague, inv. no. NK2244;
Instituut Collectie Nederland, Rijswijk, inv. no. NK2244;
Restituted to the heirs of Jakob and Rosa Oppenheimer in 2008.

PROPERTY FORMERLY IN THE COLLECTION OF JAKOB AND ROSA OPPENHEIMER
In this elegant interior scene, one can clearly see how Pot was influenced by the early genre paintings of his fellow townsmen Dirck Hals (1591-1656) and Willem Buytewech (1591/2-1624). The full-length figures, as well as the composition in the room are much indebted to works by Hals and the lively colours used in this work are reminiscent of the typical merry companies by Buytewech. Compare, for example that by Buytenwech in the Szépmüvészeti Múzeum, Budapest (inv. no. 3831)υ1 and by Hals in the Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem (inv. no. os 76-9).υ2

This picture can be dated to the 1620s by comparison with Pot's Brothel scene, also in the Frans Hals Museum (inv. no. os I-287) which dates from this period, and shows a very similar female figure to the females in the present workυ3. The somewhat larger heads and hands are typical for these early paintings of Pot, who later on devoted his time to small portraits and history paintings. 1. See P.C.Sutton, Masters of Seventeenth-Century Dutch Genre Painting, Philadelphia 1984, pp. 172-3, cat. no. 26, plate 6.
2. See Painting in Haarlem 1500-1850, The Collection of the Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem 2006, p. 471.
3. op. cit., p. 578.