Lot 249: PIETER GERRITSZ. VAN ROESTRAETEN HAARLEM 1630 - 1700 LONDON

STILL LIFE WITH AN ELABORATE SILVER AND BLACK LACQUER CASKET, A GILT CUP AND COVER, A TEAPOT, A LETTER, A MEDALLION, NAUTILUS CUP AND A WATCH ALL ON A LEDGE

STILL LIFE WITH AN ELABORATE SILVER AND BLACK LACQUER CASKET, A GILT CUP AND COVER, A TEAPOT, A LETTER, A MEDALLION, NAUTILUS CUP AND A WATCH ALL ON A LEDGE

measurements note
32 1/8 by 43 1/8 in.; 81.5 by 109.5 cm.

signed P. Roestraten

oil on canvas

PROVENANCE

P. Jackson Higgs;
Anonymous Sale, New York, American Art Association, December 7, 1932, lot 61;
S.C. Cohen;
With Johnny van Haeften, London, 1987.

NOTE

Roestraten entered the Haarlem guild of Saint Luke as a portrait painter in 1646 and from then until 1651 served as an apprentice to Frans Hals, whose daughter, Adriaentje, he married in 1654. He arrived in London sometime between 1663 and 1665, and quickly befriended the portrait painter Sir Peter Lely. Lely introduced Rosetraten's work to his patron Charles II, who responded favourably to one of his still lifes, a Vanitas, now in the Royal Collection in Hampton Court.

Roestraten was one of the more successful of the many Dutch painters who tried to make a living in England during the late seventeenth century and was to remain there until his death in 1700. There was strong demand for his sumptuous still lifes, inspired by those of Willem Kalf and characterized by the remarkable depiction of silver, lacquered objects and gold that we see here in the present painting. This is one of the artist's grander compositions and may well have been commissioned by the maker of the precious objects depicted. The oriental black and gold lacqured chest with elaborate rococo mounts is repeated in the exquisite, large Vanitas, signed and dated 1678, in the Museo de Arte Ponce, Puerto Rico.