Public collection via the Cleveland Museum of Art
AT-00000253Wineglass and a Bowl of Fruit
by Willem Kalf
Also known as: Wine Glass on a Gilded Silver Foot and a Bowl of Fruit; Still Life
About the Artwork
Priceless objects crowd the corner of a stone table in Kalf's composition. Pieces like the silver platter, delicate glasswares, thick rumpled carpet, and a Chinese porcelain bowl with peaches and an orange not only represented the great wealth and global reach of the Dutch trading empire, but were also a way for the artist to demonstrate his skill in recreating various surface textures. Kalf used different kinds of highlights to render reflections—quick dots, lines, and dabs of paint—creating sparkling, twinkling light effects that subtly distinguish objects from the surrounding shadows. In 1797, the German poet Johann van Goethe wrote that Kalf's paintings lead to understanding "in what sense art is superior to nature and what the spirit of man imparts to objects when it views them with creative eyes. . . . if I had to choose between the golden vessels or the picture . . . I would choose the picture."
Inscriptions
Signed and dated lower left: "W. KALF 1663"
Provenance
Before 1959: (Galerie M. Schulthess, Basel, probably sold to G. Vegting) By 1959: G. Vegting, Amsterdam Until 1962: (Duits, Ltd., London, sold to Piet de Boer with Frederick Mont and Newhouse Galleries) Until 1962: (Piet de Boer with Frederick Mont and Newhouse Galleries, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) 1962-: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio
Exhibition history
Year in Review (1963). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 27, 1963-January 5, 1964). Dutch Art and Life in the Seventeenth Century. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (July 10-September 2, 1973). The Porcelain Connection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 22-August 15, 1982). A Prosperous Past: The Sumptuous Still Life in the Netherlands. Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands (co-organizer) (July 1-September 4, 1988); Fogg Museum, Cambridge, MA (co-organizer) (October 1-November 27, 1988); Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, TX (organizer) (co-organizer) (December 10, 1988-February 12, 1989). Still-Life Paintings from the Netherlands, 1550-1720. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands (June 19-September 19, 1999); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 31, 1999-January 9, 2000).
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 7, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Willem Kalf (Dutch, 1619–1693)
- Date
- 1663
- Medium
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- Framed: 81 x 70.5 x 7.5 cm (31 7/8 x 27 3/4 x 2 15/16 in.); Unframed: 60.3 x 50.2 cm (23 3/4 x 19 3/4 in.)
- Type
- Painting
- Classification
- Painting
- Department
- European Painting and Sculpture
- Credit line
- Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund
- Accession no.
- 1962.292
More by Willem Kalf in museum collections
Open-access museum record · AT-00000253
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