Still Life with Silver-gilt Tazza - Clara Peeters

A detailed seventeenth-century still life by Clara Peeters, featuring a silver-gilt tazza, a basket of fruit, and a squirrel.

Clara Peeters was a pioneer of the still life genre in the early seventeenth century. This composition demonstrates her technical precision in rendering varied textures, from the reflective surface of the silver-gilt tazza to the soft, porous skin of the fruit. The arrangement features a wicker basket filled with apples, pears, and grapes, positioned alongside a plate of crayfish. A squirrel sits to the right, adding an element of natural observation common in Flemish painting of this period.

Peeters often included her own likeness in the reflections of metal objects, a signature technique that invites the viewer to examine the work closely. The lighting is controlled, emerging from the left to model the forms of the fruit and the metallic sheen of the vessels. The dark, neutral background ensures the focus remains on the objects, which are depicted with a high degree of naturalism. The inclusion of the squirrel and the specific choice of luxury items, such as the tazza, suggest a display of material wealth and the artist's ability to capture the physical world with accuracy. Her work remains a primary example of the early development of the breakfast piece, or ontbijtje, which became popular in the Netherlands and Flanders during the seventeenth century. This print captures the tonal range and the fine brushwork of the original panel, preserving the clarity of the composition.