Tulips, daffodils, irises and roses in a glass vase with butterflies and other insects on a ledge

Jan Philips van Thielen specialised in still-life and was an apprentice of the flower painter Daniel Seghers, with whom his works are sometimes confused. His signed paintings help to establish a clear chronology for his oeuvre -- those signed 'I. P. Van Thielen Rigouldts' (after his mother) date from the 1640s; others signed 'I.P. Van Thielen' were painted after 1650; while the signature 'I.P. Van Thielen Heere Van Cowenberch' is found on his late works of the 1660s, when he assumed the title of Lord Cowenberch. The present example dates from the 1650s, a dating confirmed by Fred Meijer of the RKD, The Hague, to whom we are grateful. It is a characteristically crisp example, in which the different colours and shapes of the flowers are counterbalanced by the beautiful simplicity of the glass vase and stark background.