Lot 3022 - A212 Old Master Paintings - Friday, 28. March 2025, 02.00 PM
CLARA PEETERS
(active 1607 Antwerp until/after 1621)
Still life with fish, prawns and oysters.
Oil on panel.
31.2 × 47 cm.
Provenance:
- Sale Christie's, London, 6.4.1984, Lot 1.
- European private collection.
- Private collection, Switzerland.
Literature:
Following the success of the September 2024 auction of a painting with a falcon and other birds by Clara Peeters, Koller Auctions is particularly pleased to be able to offer another still life by this talented and influential Flemish artist in the spring 2025 auction. This still life, which has not been seen on the market for forty years, depicts a carp on a table with a pike crossed over it, a closed and an open oyster, three prawns and, in the rear, an earthenware bowl on which a metal strainer with lettuce, spring onions and a ladle are arranged.
The fish and crustaceans depicted are products from the regional waters of the southern Netherlands, where Clara Peeters lived, which were also offered alive at the weekly markets, with the result that the artist was able to study them close to their natural state. The composition takes up elements that Clara Peeters also used in what is probably the earliest dated fish still life in art history from 1611 in the Museo Nacional del Prado in Madrid (oil on panel, 50 × 72 cm, signed and dated 1611, inv. no. P1621), namely the crossed fish in the foreground, the metal strainer and the ladle as well as the earthenware bowl and the prawns.
The reflections of the ladle on the metal strainer, which are clearly visible in our still life, show Peeters’ predilection for depicting reflected light and the distinct materiality of the individual elements. These reflections can also be found in her fish still life in the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp (oil on panel, 37.7 × 9.9 cm, signed, inv. no. 834). The transparency of the prawn shells, which are probably cooked judging by their red colour, can also be seen there. These are stylistically very similar to the depiction of the crustaceans in the still life offered here.
In terms of style and composition, this still life is also related to the painting on panel of almost the same size by Clara Peeters in the Philadelphia Museum of Art-John G. Johnson Collection (oil on panel, 35.2 × 48.3 cm, inv. no. 647), in which crossed fish, an earthenware vessel, oysters and cooked prawns are also laid out on a tabletop. In her 1992 publication, Pamela Hibbs Decoteau lists this painting, on the basis of photographs, as a work from the artist's circle. For Dr Fred G. Meijer, however, there is no doubt that the work is by Clara Peeters’ own hand. He stresses that the artistic execution is of a high standard and corresponds to the quality of her other work. Technical analyses have also confirmed the high quality of the painting. Meijer situates this painting in Peeters’ early period of around 1611 and therefore the same period as the Prado fish still life.
Little is known about Clara Peeters' life and artistic training. Accordingly, the chronological classification of her works is based on stylistic characteristics; some of the wooden panels bear the brand of the city of Antwerp, which suggests that she worked there. Whether she was a member of the Guild of St Luke is not documented. But as Pamela Hibbs Decoteau notes, the lists for the period 1607 – 1628 are also incomplete (ibid. p. 9). Peeters specialised in still life painting and is considered a pioneer of several specific genres. For example, she made her mark on hunting still lifes, such as the one with the falcon and other birds, which was auctioned at Koller in September 2024, or the fish still life from around 1610 now offered here. Dated works from her known œuvre range from 1607–1609 to 1621. A total of 39 signed works by the artist are known, but the total oeuvre proves to be far more extensive – see also the lists of autograph works in the RKD, The Hague and in the literature (Hibbs Decoteau, pp. 178–182; Adriaan van der Willigen and Fred G. Meijer: A Dictionary of Dutch and Flemish Still-life Painters Working in Oils, 1525–1725, Leiden 2003, pp. 158–159; exh. cat. The Art of Clara Peeters, ed. by Alejandro Vergara, Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, 2016, p. 14).
We would like to thank Dr Fred G. Meijer for his expert assistance with the cataloguing.
The painting is archived as an autograph work by Clara Peeters in the RKD, The Hague under number 21753.
The fish and crustaceans depicted are products from the regional waters of the southern Netherlands, where Clara Peeters lived, which were also offered alive at the weekly markets, with the result that the artist was able to study them close to their natural state. The composition takes up elements that Clara Peeters also used in what is probably the earliest dated fish still life in art history from 1611 in the Museo Nacional del Prado in Madrid (oil on panel, 50 × 72 cm, signed and dated 1611, inv. no. P1621), namely the crossed fish in the foreground, the metal strainer and the ladle as well as the earthenware bowl and the prawns.
The reflections of the ladle on the metal strainer, which are clearly visible in our still life, show Peeters’ predilection for depicting reflected light and the distinct materiality of the individual elements. These reflections can also be found in her fish still life in the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp (oil on panel, 37.7 × 9.9 cm, signed, inv. no. 834). The transparency of the prawn shells, which are probably cooked judging by their red colour, can also be seen there. These are stylistically very similar to the depiction of the crustaceans in the still life offered here.
In terms of style and composition, this still life is also related to the painting on panel of almost the same size by Clara Peeters in the Philadelphia Museum of Art-John G. Johnson Collection (oil on panel, 35.2 × 48.3 cm, inv. no. 647), in which crossed fish, an earthenware vessel, oysters and cooked prawns are also laid out on a tabletop. In her 1992 publication, Pamela Hibbs Decoteau lists this painting, on the basis of photographs, as a work from the artist's circle. For Dr Fred G. Meijer, however, there is no doubt that the work is by Clara Peeters’ own hand. He stresses that the artistic execution is of a high standard and corresponds to the quality of her other work. Technical analyses have also confirmed the high quality of the painting. Meijer situates this painting in Peeters’ early period of around 1611 and therefore the same period as the Prado fish still life.
Little is known about Clara Peeters' life and artistic training. Accordingly, the chronological classification of her works is based on stylistic characteristics; some of the wooden panels bear the brand of the city of Antwerp, which suggests that she worked there. Whether she was a member of the Guild of St Luke is not documented. But as Pamela Hibbs Decoteau notes, the lists for the period 1607 – 1628 are also incomplete (ibid. p. 9). Peeters specialised in still life painting and is considered a pioneer of several specific genres. For example, she made her mark on hunting still lifes, such as the one with the falcon and other birds, which was auctioned at Koller in September 2024, or the fish still life from around 1610 now offered here. Dated works from her known œuvre range from 1607–1609 to 1621. A total of 39 signed works by the artist are known, but the total oeuvre proves to be far more extensive – see also the lists of autograph works in the RKD, The Hague and in the literature (Hibbs Decoteau, pp. 178–182; Adriaan van der Willigen and Fred G. Meijer: A Dictionary of Dutch and Flemish Still-life Painters Working in Oils, 1525–1725, Leiden 2003, pp. 158–159; exh. cat. The Art of Clara Peeters, ed. by Alejandro Vergara, Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, 2016, p. 14).
We would like to thank Dr Fred G. Meijer for his expert assistance with the cataloguing.
The painting is archived as an autograph work by Clara Peeters in the RKD, The Hague under number 21753.
CHF 70 000 / 100 000 | (€ 72 160 / 103 090)
Sold for CHF 87 500 (including buyer’s premium)
All information is subject to change.