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All our images can be downloaded in high resolution from our website for non-commercial use (research/study, educational purposes, personal blogs and social media).
Would you like to use our images in a publication? Please mention our credit line: "Mauritshuis, The Hague."
Commercial use
Would you like to use our images for commercial purposes? We would be happy to discuss this with you. Please contact our marketing department at images@mauritshuis.nl.
All our images can be downloaded in high resolution from our website for non-commercial use (research/study, educational purposes, personal blogs and social media).
Would you like to use our images in a publication? Please mention our credit line: "Mauritshuis, The Hague."
Commercial use
Would you like to use our images for commercial purposes? We would be happy to discuss this with you. Please contact our marketing department at images@mauritshuis.nl.
All our images can be downloaded in high resolution from our website for non-commercial use (research/study, educational purposes, personal blogs and social media).
Would you like to use our images in a publication? Please mention our credit line: "Mauritshuis, The Hague."
Commercial use
Would you like to use our images for commercial purposes? We would be happy to discuss this with you. Please contact our marketing department at images@mauritshuis.nl.
Balthasar van der Ast Fruit Still Life with Shells and Tulip
On view in Room 16
This colourful still-life from 1620 is the earliest known painting by Van der Ast, one of the first still-life specialists. An expensive Chinese porcelain dish holds quinces, pomegranates, apricots and grapes. Some exotic shells and a tulip are laid out on the table.
Van der Ast chose a high vantage point, so that we are looking down on the table and can see each object clearly. This composition was customary for still-lifes from the beginning of the seventeenth century.
Balthasar van der Ast (Middelburg 1593 - 1657 Delft)
Title
Fruit Still Life with Shells and Tulip
Object name
painting
Inventory number
1066
On view in
Room 16
Material and technical details
Technique
oil
Material
panel
Dimensions
46 x 64 cm
Inscriptions
Signed and dated
lower left: .B. vander. Ast. fe. / .1620.
Provenance
Sale Amsterdam, Frederik Muller, 26-29 November and 2 December 1946, lot 1147; N. van Bohemen Gallery, The Hague, 1947; Douwes Gallery, Amsterdam, 1963; H. Girardet, Kettwich, 1963; P. de Boer Gallery, Amsterdam, 1983; purchased with the support of the Rembrandt Association, 1983
