Still Life with Fruit, Oysters, and a Porcelain Bowl

Unknown artist

1660 - 1679

oil on panel

Rijksmuseum

A dark, rich still life displays a bounty of fruits, oysters, and other objects on a table. Grapes, pomegranates, and berries are prominent, alongside oysters on the half shell and a decorative porcelain bowl. The composition of this still life is both sumptuous and inventive. Mignon set the roemer, the green glass at the left, upside down. Reflected in it is a window, and a view of a church tower in Utrecht, where Mignon lived. The porcelain bowl from Asia was a sign of prosperity as well as being a showpiece on the table.