A Dutch Delft blue and white porcelain bowl, a sliced herring with spring onions on a pewter plate with bread, cherries, a knife and a rose, a lobster on a pewter plate in a basket, a lily, a rose, buttercups and other flowers in a pewter vase with a lemon and two façon de Venise wine glasses on a partly-draped table

The authorship of this picture has only recently been called in to question, having last been offered for sale in these Rooms in 1997 with a full attribution to Jan Davidsz. de Heem. Despite endorsing the atribution at the time, Mr. Fred Meijer (to whom we are grateful) no longer believes it is by the artist's hand, considering that it has too many inconsistencies to link it satisfactorily to any other picture safely within the oeuvre. He concludes that is disconcerting 'since the quality of execution is compatible with de Heem's and at this point I cannot think of any other artist capable of such work at such a level of quality' (written communication, 2004).