A cut melon, cherries, gooseberries, peaches, grapes, figs, plums, flowers, snails and insects on a stone ledge

Cornelis de Heem was a pupil of his father, Jan Davidsz. de Heem, arguably the greatest still life painter of the seventeenth century. He worked in Antwerp and after joining the guild there in 1660, he subsequently moved to Utrecht and The Hague. Cornelis specialized in small scale still lifes of fruit as well as bouquets and swags of flowers charaterised by a strong colour scheme often employing a rich blue.

We are grateful to Fred Meijer of the RKD, The Hague, for confirming the attribution of the present painting, on inspection of the original. The picture is also sold with a photocopy of a certificate from Ingvar Bergström, dated 12 May 1987, confirming the attribution to Cornelis de Heem.