Still Life with Fruit
Artist
Juriaen van Streeck
(Dutch, 1632 - 1687)
Dateca. 1660s
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsImage: 27 3/8 x 22 1/2 in. (69.5 x 57.2 cm)
ClassificationsPaintings
Credit LineBequest of John Ringling, 1936
Object numberSN290
To a seventeenth-century viewer the objects brought together in this still life would have suggested considerable wealth and luxury. The citrus fruits were costly items at that time. The elaborately crafted silver plate and knife with an ivory handle would have been highly valued for their material and workmanship. Blue and white porcelain was imported into the Netherlands from China, while the nautilus shell here mounted in silver would have come from the Indian Ocean. While it remains debatable whether such a display of wealth served as a reminder of the transience of all earthly belongings, the luxury objects clearly point to the elaborate lifestyle of successful Dutch merchants during the “Golden Age.”
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