Fruit Still Life with Shells and Tulip

This colourful still-life from 1620 is the earliest known painting by Van der Ast, one of the first still-life specialists. An expensive Chinese porcelain dish holds quinces, pomegranates, apricots and grapes. Some exotic shells and a tulip are laid out on the table.

Van der Ast chose a high vantage point, so that we are looking down on the table and can see each object clearly. This composition was customary for still-lifes from the beginning of the seventeenth century.