Willem Claesz. Heda

Thought to have been in the possession of the family of the present owners since before 1910.

Signed and dated 1631, this beautifully observed still life is an early work by Willem Claesz. Heda. Alongside his townsman Pieter Claesz. (1597/98–1660/61), he was the foremost exponent of the so-called monochrome breakfast-piece, or banketje, that was popularised in Haarlem in the 17th century. Executed at a pivotal moment in the artist’s development, this elegant composition belongs to the formative phase in which Heda refined the restrained tonal harmonies and subtle effects of reflected light that would become the hallmark of his mature style. Having remained in the same private European collection for over a century, the present painting is particularly significant for its early date and distinguished provenance.

Laid across a draped tabletop are oysters upon a pewter plate, a peeled lemon, an overturned silver gilt tazza, and a tall roemer partially filled with wine. Although the objects appear naturally arranged, their placement is carefully orchestrated to create a harmonious and balanced design. Evident in this picture is the artist’s sheer delight in the depiction of a variety of textures and surfaces, such as the cold sheen of the pewter dishes, the translucency of the glass roemer, the pitted skin of the lemon and the rough texture of the oyster shells. Particularly striking is the artist’s treatment of reflected light, from the glimmering highlights that animate the polished silver tazza to the faint reflection of a window in the rounded glass vessel.

The motif of the roemer placed beside an upturned tazza recurs in several of Heda’s works from this period, including Still life with a gilded beer tankard of 1634 in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam,¹ and Still life with oysters, a silver tazza and glassware dated 1635 in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.² Furthermore, a silver tazza of the same distinctive design is found in another work by Heda, dated 1630, sold at Sotheby’s London in December 2023 for £482,600.³

Three copies of this composition are known, one in the Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe,⁴ one last recorded on the London art market in 1948,⁵ and another auctioned in Cologne in 1928.⁶ None are considered to be autograph and were likely executed by a later follower of the artist.

We are grateful to Dr Fred G. Meijer for endorsing the attribution to Heda on the basis of digital images.

¹ Inv. no. SK-A-137; oil on panel, 45.5 x 62.1 cm.; https://id.rijksmuseum.nl/20028015

² Inv. no. 2005.331.4; oil on panel, 49.8 x 80.6 cm.; https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/438376

³ Anonymous sale (‘Property from a European Private Collection’), London, Sotheby’s, 6 December 2023, lot 10, for £482,600; https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2023/old-master-19th-century-paintings-evening-auction-2/still-life-with-a-roemer-an-upturned-tazza-nuts

⁴ Inv. no. 357; oil on panel, 44 x 63.5 cm.; https://www.kunsthalle-karlsruhe.de/kunstwerke/Pieter-Claesz/Fr%C3%BChst%C3%BCcksstilleben-mit-Silberpokal/ADA90B8E42CDE86A420F1BB59E7B0170/ 

⁵ https://rkd.nl/imageslite/465949

⁶ https://rkd.nl/imageslite/465948