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Willem Claesz. Heda uses muted colours to show us the ingredients of a meal – with a focus on quality, not quantity. Everything on the table is expensive: this is the meal of a rich man. The white table cloth is made of damask, a luxurious silk fabric. Lemons were brought in from the Mediterranean, the porcelain blue and white plate came from China, and the pepper, spilt on a pewter plate, arrived in the Dutch Republic on a merchant ship from the East Indies.

Heda’s command of perspective is evident in how he shows the knife on the pewter plate that’s almost dropping off the table close to us. He’s creating the illusion of a real table with real objects. The ivory handle of the knife also protrudes into our space as if it were real, the blade inserted into a cone of paper rolled from a page from an almanac.

The National Gallery, London

London

Title

Still Life: Pewter and Silver Vessels and a Crab

Date

probably about 1633-7

Medium

Oil on oak

Measurements

H 54.2 x W 73.8 cm

Accession number

NG1469

Acquisition method

Presented by Henry J. Pfungst, 1896

Work type

Painting

The National Gallery, London

Trafalgar Square, London, Greater London WC2N 5DN England

This venue is open to the public. Not all artworks are on display. If you want to see a particular artwork, please contact the venue.

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Artist or maker

Willem Claesz. Heda

1594–1680

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Still Life with an Upturned Roemer Norfolk Museums Service
Still Life with a Lobster The National Gallery, London
Still Life: Pewter and Silver Vessels and a Crab The National Gallery, London
Still Life National Trust for Scotland, Hill of Tarvit Mansionhouse & Garden
Still Life with Fruit and Hock Glass Dundee Art Galleries and Museums Collection (Dundee City Council)
Breakfast-piece with a Flagon and an overturned Wine-cup Ashmolean Museum, Oxford