Ewers, Basins and Pilgrim Flask

This painting is an exact copy of a well known still life by Willem Kalf, the original version of which has long been debated. It eventually appears that the original one, signed and dated 1643, belongs to a private collection in Germany. Apart from the V&A version, there are two more copies: one is housed in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Rouen (inv. no. 833-5) and the other is preserved in the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, Cologna (inv. no. WRM 2598). The copy in Cologna was stated as the original painting by Grisebach in his 1974 catalogue raisonné of Kalf's oeuvre but is now believed to be an 18th-century copy. The V&A version is much smaller than the original one and has been cut on the edges at the top and on the right hand side. Part of the composition is therefore missing. However this painting is a good example of Kalf's last and mature Parisian period.

The original painting, which has been analysed in 2000 during the exhibition dedicated to the artist in the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, shows a complex and triangular composition that displays rare and luxurious silverwares and Chinese porcelain. The artist focused here his attention on the rendering of the different qualities of the material: the glittering golden embossed plate and jars, the polished silver of the façon-de-Venisevase, the porcelain glossy look and the contrast between the linen tea towel falling from the table onto the warm red velvet stool. Kalf also enhanced the gloomy rendering of these wares by a subtle play of light and shade. This technique and the palette employed belong to the tradition of the Dutch monochromatic still life pictures of the second quarter of the 17th century.