Balthasar van der Ast
Date:
c. 1630s

Medium:
Oil on wood panel

Size:
Width: 15 7/8″
Height: 12″

Seashells from the Indian Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, and the Caribbean Sea line the foreground. A rare red-and-white-striped tulip, originally from Central Asia, lies toward the back of the stone tabletop. A dragonfly, bumblebee, and inchworm quietly enliven the scene.

Balthasar van der Ast was among the first generation of Dutch artists to make still-life painting a specialized genre in the 17th century. Born in Middelburg, in the Netherlands, he would have been familiar with the activities of the Dutch East India Company, which transported commodities and enslaved people throughout Asia and Africa. Some of the shells depicted here would have moved through these global networks. Middelburg also had a robust intellectual community interested in botany. Varieties of flora, fauna, and other natural specimens appealed to members of the Dutch elite, who collected and displayed similar rarities.