Still Life with a silver beaker and a clock
1633. Oil on panel.Room 076
In addition to the Roemer goblet, other glasses common in this kind of monochrome still life presented here include the Berkemeyer, in this case tipped over and broken, and the delicate Façon-de-Venise wineglass, in fashion at the time and likewise made in the Netherlands. Also featured is an exquisitely decorated silver goblet. Alongside them is a knife with a sheath and an open clock that is also portrayed in Still Life with a silver tazza, a roemer and oysters (P2756). The food depicted is habitual in this kind of still life, although interesting here is the absence of the lemon, generally the only spot of local colour in the range of greenish and brownish hues favoured in these monochrome banketjes.
The objects shown here, including the Façon-de-Venise goblet, the clock and the knife, are also depicted in the previous painting (P2756). The silver goblet appears in a still life dated 1632 (Cologne, Wallraf-Richartz-Museum) and in two other still lifes, dated 1635 (Munich, Alte Pinakothek) and 1638 (whereabouts unknown) respectively. Where the items of food are concerned, it is worth noting that olives feature in a previous still life, dated 1630 (private collection), and then disappear from Heda`s production until the 1640s (Posada Kubissa, T.: Pintura holandesa en el Museo Nacional del Prado. Catálogo razonado, 2009, p. 303).