05/06/2025 General, Old Master Paintings
NEW YORK, NY -- A striking feature of the art of the Netherlands from its earliest beginnings in the Middle Ages was a fascination with detail. The margins of Medieval manuscript pages from the Low Countries are filled with tiny paintings of trees, flowers, small animals, and everyday objects such as ceramic jugs and metal tools. When Flemish artists began to paint in oil in the early 15th century, they brought their delight in such observations into the new medium. A painting of the Annunciation, for example, might be enlivened with the inclusion of a sewing basket, a stack of books, or a vase of flowers. These added still lifes are one reason for the immense charm of the Flemish paintings of the period.
Around 1600 the still life in itself began to emerge as a significant category of painting. Now a group of elegantly arranged objects could be the subject of even a very large and important picture. One of the centers of this development was the Dutch town of Haarlem, where a number of Flemish artists had fled to escape the religious wars that were raging in their country. It was to Haarlem that the young painter Pieter Claesz (1697-1660) made his way in 1620 to forge a career.
Pieter Claesz arrived in Haarlem as a fully trained professional, already a member of the painter’s guild in his hometown of Berchem, near Antwerp. He may have known other artists from Flanders who had come to Haarlem earlier, for he seems to have found work and to have established himself fairly rapidly.
During the following years, Claesz became one of the founders and the leading master of a type of image that we now know as the “banquet piece”: a view of a table arrayed with sumptuous food and beautiful tableware. One important feature of the banquet piece was the inclusion of exotic things to eat from distant countries: oranges and lemons from Spain, olives and grapes from Italy, walnuts from Turkey—all extravagances that would have been immediately recognizable to contemporary viewers as expensive luxuries. The table settings were equally opulent, including fine silver and glassware.
Doyle’s May 20 auction features a superb banquet piece by Pieter Claesz from the height of his career, Still Life with a Roemer, a Silver Tazza, and a Roast Pheasant on a Pewter Plate, signed with the artist’s monogram and dated 1647. This is a classic example of Claesz’s best work, a splendid arrangement that includes an exquisitely engraved silver tazza—an Italian footed cup—a large roemer—a lavishly ornamented glass drinking cup—and a roast pheasant.
Auction Tuesday, May 20, 2025 at 10am
Exhibition May 17 - 19
Lot 24
Pieter Claesz (Dutch, 1597-1661)
Still Life with a Roemer, a Silver Tazza, and a Roast Pheasant on a Pewter Plate
Signed with monogram and dated 1647 to the left of the roemer
Oil on panel, 18 3/8 x 25 inches (46.7 x 63.5 cm)
Property from a Distinguished New England Collection
Est. $200,000-300,000
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