Lot Essay
Although the present picture appeared in the 1923 sale on its own, it was sold in 1912 in these Rooms with a companion, described as 'Flowers in a Vase'. Ruysch made several pairs of fruit and flower pieces of this type, all roughly the same size, either on panel or on canvas. Two such pictures were sold in these Rooms, 9 December 1988, lots 107 and 108, and, in fact, both Hofstede de Groot and Grant confused the provenance of the fruit piece (lot 108) with that of the present picture (see literature above). As Marianne Berardi points out in a letter of 18 December 1995, it is 'easy to confuse... [these types of] pictures since they are variations on a theme (although never identical) and it is particularly tricky when the pairs have been split up.' Moreover, she has identified an early provenance for the present picture which was hitherto unknown: she feels fairly certain that it was one of two companion pictures owned by the reknowned Leipzig collector, Gottfried Winckler. The description of the fruit piece in his 1768 catalogue perfectly matches the present picture. Most of Winckler's collection was stolen during the Napoleonic invasions, and his two Ruyschs have never been successfully traced. It is intriguing, therefore, as Marianne Berardi points out, that the hitherto earliest known provenance for the present picture is a Parisian sale of 1812. Furthermore, Winckler notes in his 1768 catalogue that his two Ruyschs were formerly in the Allard de la Court collection. This famous Leyden cabinet collection was sold in 1766: both pictures were bought by the dealer de Winter, who could well have been acting as agent for Winckler. Although the two pictures sold in these Rooms in 1988 were previously thought to have been those in the Allard de la Court collection, the dimensions of the present picture correspond more closely. This would therefore trace the early provenance to the sale of a deceased's estate sixteen years after the artist's death, making it possible that the present picture and its now lost companion were acquired from the artist by de la Court, who had a notable collection of Dutch seventeenth-century pictures.
Ruysch and her husband, the portrait painter Juriaen Pool (1666-1745) - with whom she had ten children - were appointed court painters to the Elector Palatine Johann Wilhelm in Dusseldorf from 1708 until his death in 1716. This post took them to Dusseldorf in 1710 and again in 1713; it was during this time that the present picture was painted.
Ruysch and her husband, the portrait painter Juriaen Pool (1666-1745) - with whom she had ten children - were appointed court painters to the Elector Palatine Johann Wilhelm in Dusseldorf from 1708 until his death in 1716. This post took them to Dusseldorf in 1710 and again in 1713; it was during this time that the present picture was painted.