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Core Record |
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| Title | A Basket of Flowers with Sea Shells | |
| Collection | Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle | |
| Artist | Berch, Gillis Gillisz. de (Dutch painter and draftsman, ca.1600-1669) | |
| Date | 1642 (dated) | |
| Signed | yes | |
| Description | This painting is unique in Gillis de Berch's work, which includes no other flower-pieces. The dragonfly, which here flies over a wicker basket with roses, tulips and peonies, often appears in seventeenth-century still-life paintings as an allusion to the brevity of life. The shells represented on the right probably refer to the prevailing fashion for collecting exotic rarities. They are a common motif in the works of Balthasar van der Ast, under whose influence Berch worked in Delft. |
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| Current Accession Number | B.M.619 | |
| Former Accession Number | No. 529; No. 48 | |
| Inscription | front lr 'G. De Berg 1642' | |
| Subject | still life (flowers, shells) | |
| Measurements | 63.8 x 47.7 cm cm (estimate) | |
| Material | oil on panel | |
| Acquisition Details | Bequeathed by the founders John and Joséphine Bowes 1885. | |
| Provenance | M. d ' E. sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 1866, bought by Lamer, with pendant; purchased by John and Joséphine Bowes from Lamer, 1866, 160 francs (with pendant). | |
| Notes | Pendant: A Basket of Pears and Grapes (B.M. 626). The pair were acquired together by Lamer in 1866. | |
| Rights Owner | The Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, Co. Durham | |
| Author | Dr Mercedes Cerón; Dr Howard Coutts | |