Provenance:
Anonymous sale, Christie’s, London, 22 April 1988, lot 65;
Collection of M. J. Boon;
Private collection
The theme of the banketje, or the art of generously garnished tables,...
read moreProvenance:
Anonymous sale, Christie’s, London, 22 April 1988, lot 65;
Collection of M. J. Boon;
Private collection
The theme of the banketje, or the art of generously garnished tables, is incontestably the subject in which Jan van Kessel excels. With rhythm and harmony, the painter carefully arranges the various elements necessary for the banquet on a table. The bowls of fruit, bunches and baskets of flowers, not to mention the small pilfering animals, are all motifs that are necessary to the balance of each of his paintings. Our delightful banketje is composed of ‘kraak’ china bowls, filled with delicious raspberries and wild brambles. ’Kraak’ china was a widely exported high-quality china produced in the kilns of Jingdezhen under the reign of the Ming emperor, Wanli (1563-1620). Here, Kessel portrays beautiful examples of this china whose whiteness and decorative elements contrast fabulously with the rusticity of the dishes and the composition’s layout.
If we read the painting like a music score, the skill and the richness of the elements selected by the painter become quite evident. Bowls of raspberries and brambles share the table with plates of walnuts and hazelnuts. A bronze vase containing a modest bunch of varied flowers, as well as a peach and several cherries, are strewn around the table. And as usual, the artist includes elements of the animal kingdom in his depiction of the plant world; here, a butterfly and a chaffinch have come to rummage among the fruit and flowers, the objects of their desire.
With grace and delicacy, Jan van Kessel invites us to a wonderful feast in this banketje. From one painting to another, without ever repeating himself, Jan van Kessel charmed the art-lovers of his time with this free and enamelled touch which characterises his work. The finesse of the execution and the chromatic harmonies all contribute to the success of this work: the warm and vibrant colours of the fruit and the sober arrangement make this banketje a particularly appealing and precious work.
1626 - Antwerp - 1679
The grandson of the "Velvet" Brueghel on his mother’s side, and the nephew of both Jan Brueghel the Younger and David Teniers, Jan van Kessel was influenced more by his grandfather and his uncle than by his apprenticeship to Simon de Vos.
He specialised in painting animals, birds, amphibians and insects, which he included notably in representations of the Four Elements, the Four Corners of the Earth, (Museums of Cambridge, Madrid, Prague, and Strasbourg), allegories, and fables as well as very small-scale gallery scenes. Jan van Kessel was also one of the most brillant floral painters of the century. His roses often pink in colour, and his tulips are finely detailed and arranged in airy bouquets. This finesse in handling detail is also seen in his still lives of fruit and in the objects included in them such as dishes, baskets, and vases. The charm of his compositions, and their exquisite and precise rendering, together with the rich and dazzling hues of his palette have made Jan van Kessel one of the most appealing and highly-regarded of the Flemish masters.
