Lot 68: JOHANNES CHRISTIANUS ROEDIG

A STILL LIFE WITH PEACHES, GRAPES, PLUMS, A MELON, CHERRIES, WALNUTS, CHESTNUTS ON A WAN-LI PORCELAIN PLATE, TOGETHER WITH TWO SNAILS ON A MARBLE LEDGE, DRAPED WITH A BLUE CLOTH
signed lower right: J.C. Roedig

69.5 by 53.2 cm.

oil on mahogany panel

Private collection, Denmark;
Anonymous sale, Copenhagen, Rasmussen, 11/12 May 1993, lot 109;
Anonymous sale, London, Christie's, 10 December 1993, lot 294;
Anonymous sale, London, Christie's, 9 December 2005, lot 155.

Although today the Hague painter Johannes Christianus Roedig is a somewhat overlooked artist, in his own day his fruit and flower pieces enjoyed a very considerable reputation. His fame extended as far as St. Petersburg, where Count Alexander Stroganoff commissioned from him a pair of paintings which he then gave to the Empress Catherine the Great in 1783.

This painting, which is painted on a thick (and expensive) mahogany panel, reveals how Roedig was able to create fruit still lifes with technical perfection. Carefully arranging the peaches, grapes, plums and other fruits, he has painted a wonderfully balanced composition, enlivened by two snails.