Stolen Art DealerA bouquet of tulips, roses, irises, a lily and other flowers in a stoneware vase on a ledge, with a butterfly among the blooms and a beetle, fruit and flowers on the ledge in the foreground.
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Catalogue No. 1815 · Sotheby's · London
Still life of flowers in a stoneware vase
About $7 million in today’s money: 80 years of the typical US household’s income. Source
- Artist
- Jan Brueghel the Elder (Flemish, 1568-1625)
- Title
- Still life of flowers in a stoneware vase
- Date
- c.1610s
- Medium
- Oil on oak panel
- Size
- 67 x 51 cm (26 3/8 x 20 1/8 in.)
Jan Brueghel the Elder, the Flemish painter who lived from 1568 to 1625, painted this still life in oil on oak panel. Tulips, roses, irises, a lily and other blooms are gathered in a stoneware vase set on a ledge. A butterfly appears among the blooms, and a beetle, fruit and more flowers lie on the ledge in the foreground.
Sotheby's provenance places the painting with Baron Alphonse von Rothschild at Schloss Schillersdorf (Šilheřovice) in Silesia by 1911. A label on the reverse carries the Schillersdorf inventory number 2684.
Sotheby's records that the painting was taken in a forced transfer in 1939, then allocated to the Národní galerie in Prague, where it was exhibited until 2016. It was restituted to the heirs of Alphonse von Rothschild in 2016.
Sotheby's sold it in London on 6 July 2016, as lot 11 of the Old Masters Evening Sale, against an estimate of £3,000,000 to £5,000,000. The price was £3,845,000, or $4,970,816 at Sotheby's rate of 1.29, with the buyer's premium included according to the Sotheby's results sheet. That sheet describes it as an auction record for a still life by the artist.
The sale
- Auction house
- Sotheby's, London
- Date
- 6 July 2016
- Lot
- 11
- Estimate
- £3,000,000-£5,000,000
- Sold for
- $5 million (including buyer’s premium) · £3,845,000
- Record
- Auction record for a still life by the artist (Sotheby's sale results) (as of July 2016)
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Provenance
by 1911
Baron Alphonse von Rothschild, Schloss Schillersdorf (Šilheřovice), Silesia (Schillersdorf inventory no. 2684 on a label on the reverse)
1939
Appropriated by forced transfer in 1939 and allocated to the Národní galerie, Prague (inv. no. 0-1607)
1939-2016
Exhibited at the Národní galerie, Prague
2016
Restituted to the heirs of Alphonse von Rothschild in 2016; sold at Sotheby's, London, 6 July 2016, lot 11
Sources
- Sotheby's lot 11: Jan Brueghel the Elder, Still life of flowers in a stoneware vase (Old Masters Evening Sale, L16033)
- Sotheby's: Old Masters Evening Sale, L16033 (6 July 2016, London)
- Sotheby's sale results, L16033 Old Masters Evening Sale, 6 July 2016 (press results sheet, hosted by findart.cc)
Prices include the buyer’s premium, in US dollars at the time of sale, unless marked as a hammer price.