This work is part of the series of six panels of monkey scenes in the Museo Nacional del Prado (from P01805 to P01810). The subject matter has been associated with human foolishness since the Middle Ages and is drawn from the oeuvre of Pieter Brueghel the Elder and Peter van der Borcht. Teniers successfully captures the ambivalence of mankind in its animal nature.

Apes, grouped or dispersed, are enjoying a variety of rich foods in a kitchen interior. In the background, a cook is preparing grilled chicken whilst another cook is heating oysters on the floor in the foreground. The drawing of the owl hanging on one of the walls is inscribed with the date of the panel, A. 1660, and the subject signifies a criticism of gluttony. The richness of the fruits and food demonstrates his skill as a still life painter, following a technique akin to The Five Senses by Jan Brueghel the Elder (Jan ‘Velvet’ Brueghel).

Díaz Padrón, Matías, El siglo de Rubens en el Museo del Prado: catálogo razonado, Madrid, Prensa Ibérica, 1995, p.1396