Bouquet in a Clay Vase

The vase is the plainest thing in this picture, a brown earthenware pot on a ledge, and almost everything above it was precious. Around 1609, when Jan Brueghel painted it, new flowers such as tulips were reaching the Low Countries from the east and selling for high prices, and a painted bouquet gave a collector blooms that were hard to get hold of. Brueghel made no attempt at real depth against the dark ground. He set each flower out like a specimen, turned so it can be seen clearly, and the bunch opens like a fan. Roses fill the middle, a snowdrop droops towards the columbines, narcissi stand above, apple blossom seems to float, and a striped tulip reaches out on the right. At the very top are two grey and blue irises, a flower people then called Queen of Heaven and linked to the Virgin Mary. Insects move through all of it. On the ledge, one beetle arrives from the left while another leaves on the right.