Grapes in a wan-li porcelain kraak, raspberries in a wan-li beaker, tulips, roses and other flowers in a glass vase, with scattered fruit, flowers, and hazelnuts on a ledge

In her survey of Isaak Soreau’s still lifes, Edith Greindl lauded this painting’s ‘dazzling quality’ as well as the artist’s clear and precise technique that allowed him to beautifully render translucent glass, complex wan-li patterns, and the various textures of the fruit and flowers (loc. cit.). The arrangement of the porcelain beaker, bowl and the glass vase forms a strong diagonal, around which singular elements are carefully placed in the negative space, creating visual interest across the tabletop. Soreau’s compositions often reuse objects: the beaker containing blackberries and the glass vase with rosettes also featured in a similar composition, now in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (fig. 1, inv. no. WA1940.2.70).

Isaak Soreau was born in Hanau in 1604, the son of the still-life painter Daniel Soreau. Daniel was a successful wool merchant, controlling trade in Hesse and Wetterau and is thought to have turned to painting at an advanced age. Although no paintings by Daniel Soreau survive, it can be presumed that his was the strongest influence on Isaac's work, along with Sebastian Stoskopff who took over Daniel’s workshop after his death in 1619. Issak’s compositions also show the influence of the Antwerp painters Jacob van Hulsdonck and Osias Beert I: it has even been suggested he spent time in the former’s studio, but there is little documentary evidence to support this theory.