Still life, 17th century Antwerp school : Jan Pauwel the elder

Oil on canvas from the 17th century. Antwerp school. Jan Pauwel Gillemans the Elder (Antwerp, 1618 - Antwerp, 1675) was a Flemish goldsmith and still life painter who is known for his fruit still lifes, flower pieces, vanitas still lifes and pronkstillevens. Featuring a cartouche enclosing a typical 17th-century Roemer from Germanic Europe. The Roemer contains white wine and is surrounded by an array of fruits: Menton lemons, lychees, "Mollar de Elche" pomegranates, "Louvain" plums, "Thuin" plums, "Tétons de Vénus" peaches, "Kernechter vom Vorgebirge" peaches, Corinthian raisins, "Chasselas de Bar-sur-Aube" grapes, and "Saint John" figs.

The fruits are rendered with remarkable realism, as is the Roemer, which appears to shed a few droplets of its precious beverage onto the base of the central cartouche. This cartouche extends in an ornate, armor-like design across the entire composition.