Still Life with a Pewter Flagon and Two Ming Bowls

The muted tones and somber composition of this still life play down the sumptuousness of the precious objects on display. The two bowls are late Ming blue and white, of a type first imported into Holland not long before this picture was painted. The blue has discolored over the years because the artist used smalt, a chemically unstable pigment. The painting is signed and dated. (http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk)