(Cologne circa 1590–1632 Hanau)
A still life with grapes in a porcelain bowl, a tazza with peaches, a melon and snails,
oil on panel, 60 x 82 cm, framed

We are grateful to Fred Meijer for confirming the attribution.

Binoit repeatedly revisited the compositional scheme of this still life, which features a porcelain bowl and an open window in the background through which the scene is observed by a bird (see G. Bott, Stilllebenmaler des 17. Jahrhunderts, Isaak Soreau, Peter Binoit, in: Kunst in Hessen und am Mittelrhein, issues 1 and 2, 1961/62, pp. 48–56, 76–88). A still life that appeared on the London art market in 2006 compares well with the present composition. Peter Binoit, who was born in the Spanish Netherlands, was a painter who specialised in still lifes. He died in Hanau, a town near Frankfurt am Main. The town of Hanau had been newly built in 1597 for religious refugees from the Low Countries, who had brought with them an urban lifestyle. They modelled their houses on the example of Antwerp town houses, with a spacious entrance hall and drawing rooms that were frequently decorated with still lifes. Among the religious refugees of Hanau and their circles were numerous well-known painters who were often in close contact with one another as they belonged to the same families or workshops. Apart from Peter Binoit, they included Georg Flegel and Sebastian Stoßkopf, as well as Franz Godin.