Lot 22: f - BARTHOLOMEUS ASSTEYN DORDRECHT 1607 - 1667/77

signed and dated lower left: B. Asftijn/1635

oil on panel

A STILL LIFE WITH ROSES, TULIPS, CARNATIONS, LILY-OF-THE-VALLEY, MARIGOLDS, FORGET-ME-NOTS, COLUMBINE, A SNAKE'S HEAD FRITILLARY AND OTHER FLOWERS IN A DECORATED BLUE PORCELAIN VASE, TOGETHER WITH A RED ADMIRAL, A GRASSHOPPER AND A SNAIL, ALL IN A STONE NICHE

56 by 41 cm.

London, E. Slatter, 1952 Exhibition of Dutch and Flemish Masters, 22 April - 12 July 1952, cat. no. 5, reproduced;
Amsterdam, P. de Boer, Zomertentoonstelling van oude schilderijen bij kunsthandel P. de Boer, 4 July - 25 August 1952, p. 3, cat. no.3, reproduced on the cover.

W. Bernt, Die Niederländischen Maler des 17. Jahrhunderts, Munich 1962, vol. IV, reproduced no. 8;
W. Bernt, Die Niederländischen Maler des 17. Jahrhunderts, Munich 1979, vol. I, reproduced no. 30;
L.J. Bol, 'Bartholomeus Assteyn, Dordts schilder van blommen en fruyten', in: Oud Holland, vol. LXVIII, 1953, pp. 140 and 145, no. 5, reproduced p. 139, fig. 1.

PROPERTY FROM A SWISS DECEASED'S ESTATE

With Benedikt, 1934;
Thence possibly to the United States (according to a note in the RKD);
Percy B. Meyer, London;
With E. Slatter, London, 1943-1952 ;
With P. de Boer, Amsterdam, by 1952;
Private Collection Switzerland, by 1955;
Thence by descent.

Assteyn was born in Dordrecht where he was probably taught by his father Abraham Bartolomeusz. Assteyn. He became member of the local Guild in 1631 and he may have studied in the 1620s under Balthasar van der Ast (1593/4-1657) in Utrecht as more Dordrecht painters did. He specialized in painting still lifes of fruit and flowers for which he used various detailed studies of the different species. There are 22 dated works known by Assteyn in the period 1628-1669. The present flower still life is an example of his early work with meticulous attention to detail visible in the flowers and animals.

The vase depicted here is a 17th Century European Chinoiserie-decorated vase which was most likely was decorated in China for export to the European market.