Still Life with Cherries

Date1617

Maker Balthasar van der Ast Dutch, 1593/94 - 1657

Label TextBalthasar van der Ast was a force in the artists' community that thrived in Utrecht in the Netherlands during the 17th century. Specializing in crisply illusionistic still lifes of flowers and fruit embellished with butterflies, snails, and other fauna, van der Ast pioneered the still-life genre and laid the foundation for its popularity during the Dutch Golden Age. This painting—van der Ast's earliest known work to date—is an exquisite example of the artist's prodigious mastery of the still life. A blue-and-white Ming-dynasty porcelain bowl overflows with three varieties of juicy red cherries, balanced by an apricot and two ripe peaches. A caterpillar, grasshopper, snail, damselfly, and butterfly enliven the scene as they flitter and crawl across the fruit dish and the stone ledge upon which it rests, while a halo of sprigs encircles it in a harmonizing frame. The supple fresh fruit bursts with life against the inert, unpliable porcelain that holds it, inviting contemplation of the magnificence and transience of nature and demonstrating van der Ast's exacting naturalism.

Object number2023.4

ProvenancePrivate collection, Sweden; [Christie’s, London, Anonymous sale (“The Property of a Lady”), Apr. 9, 1990, lot no. 6]; purchased at auction jointly by [Johnny van Haeften, London, England] and [Richard Green, London, England]; sold, via [Johnny van Haeften, London, England] to Phoebe Cowles, San Francisco, California, 1991; sold to Theilene Scheumann (1931-2022), Seattle, Washington, after 2000; Grousemont Foundation, Seattle, Washington, 2022; to Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, 2023

Photo CreditPhoto: Susan Cole

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, SAM at 75: Building a Collection for Seattle, May 5 - Sept. 9, 2007. Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, European Masters: The Treasures of Seattle, Feb. 14 - May 19, 2013. Published ReferencesSegal, Samuel. “An Early Fruit Piece by Balthasar van der Ast.” Still Life Studies. Amsterdam, 1990; reproduced. Roelofsz, Charles, ed. A painting of 1617 by Balthasar van der Ast: a guild masterpiece? Amsterdam: Kunsthandel Charles Roelofsz, 2002; p. 9, reproduced fig. VIII. Ishikawa, Chiyo, ed. A Community of Collectors: 75th Anniversary Gifts to the Seattle Art Museum. Seattle: Seattle Art Museum, 2008; pp. 18-19, reproduced pl. 1.

Credit LineGift of Theiline Scheumann's children, including Jeff and Korynne Wright, in honor of their mother

Dimensions22 x 25 1/2 in. (55.9 x 64.8 cm)

MediumOil on wood panel