Still Life with Ostrich Egg Cup and the Whitfield Heirlooms

c. 1670

Pieter Gerritsz. van Roestraeten (Dutch, 1630–1700)

Trained in the Dutch Republic before making his career in London, Pieter van Roestraeten specialized in compositions populated with luxury goods crafted from rare, imported materials like those seen here. On the right stands a lidded agate cup with detailed silver mounts, counterbalanced to the left of the grouping by another cup, which has been overturned to reveal its mother-of-pearl lining. A piece of valuable and versatile coral, sourced from the coasts of Italy and France, dangles over the front edge of the table. The central item in this still life, the ostrich egg cup, is in the collection of the Art Institute. Known as the Whitfield Cup, it was created in 1590 by the royal jeweler John Spilman.

Status: On View, Gallery 212
Department: Painting and Sculpture of Europe

Artist: Pieter Gerritsz. van Roestraeten
Title: Still Life with Ostrich Egg Cup and the Whitfield Heirlooms
Place: Netherlands (Artist's nationality:)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 1660–1680
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 65.4 × 75.6 cm (25 3/4 × 29 3/4 in.); Framed: 77.2 × 88.3 × 4.5 cm (30 3/8 × 34 3/4 × 1 3/4 in.)
Credit Line: European Decorative Arts Fund
Reference Number: 2009.114
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/198905/manifest.json

Andrew Moore, Nathan Fils, and Francesca Vanke, The Paston Treasure: Microcosm of the Known World, exh. cat. (Yale Center for British Art/ Norfolk Museums Service/ Yale University Press, 2018), p. 70, 262-263, 265, cat. 9.

New Haven, Yale Center for British Art, The Paston Treasure: Microcosm of the Known World, Feb. 15-May 27; Norwich, England, Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery, June 23-Sept. 23, 2018, cat. 9 (ill).

Possibly John Whitfield, Canterbury (died 1691), based on the inclusion in the painting of the ostrich egg cup mentioned in Whitfield’s will. Possibly by descent in the Whitfield family. Sold, Sotheby’s, London, 15 December, 1976, no. 130. Paris, Loudmer, Hôtel Drouot, June 30, 1993, no. 21. Sold. Phillips, London [according to the catalogue of the 2008 Christie’s sale cited below]; Philip Harris, Baron Harris of Peckham, London; his sale, Christie’s, London, 25 November, 2008, no. 55, in a single lot with the Whitfield cup (2009.113), a silver-gilt mounted ostrich egg cup and cover, which is depicted in the painting; bought by Wynyard Wilkinson as agent for the Art Institute.

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Still Life with Ostrich Egg Cup and the Whitfield Heirlooms

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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