A Single Tulip in a Vase

The Mauritshuis knows of only two Dutch paintings from the 17th century that show a single tulip, and this small panel of 1625 is one of them. The flower is a Zomerschoon, or Summer Beauty, white feathered with red. Those flames were caused by a virus nobody then understood, so no grower could produce the pattern at will. Zomerschoon is one of the few tulips of that period still grown today.

Van der Ast stands it in a small glass vase with a gilded neck and foot, set just off centre on a brown ledge. A small butterfly has settled on one leaf, a fly crawls along the ledge, and three drops of water stand out against the dark leaf. The museum bought the panel in 2022 with support from the VriendenLoterij, the Dutch charity lottery.