Still Life with a Pewter Pitcher and a Chinese Bowl Jan Jansz. Treck

At the time the painting was made, the provinces of the Northern Netherlands had already enjoyed half a century of thriving trade with Asia, thanks to the Dutch East India Company. Tens of thousands of merchant ships transported porcelain wares from China to Holland, so even less wealthy citizens could easily afford such exotic goods. In Treck’s quietly elegant still life, the dining cultures of East and West come together in the most natural way imaginable. Beside the European pewter pitcher and the slender beer glass there is a Chinese porcelain bowl from the late Ming period (1573–1620). The tight cropping of the picture, an innovation at the time, encourages close observation and draws our attention to the masterful composition of objects, painted with a virtuoso sense of materiality.