Chalice and Host in a Niche, within a Cartouche of Roses and Fruit

The date is written on the canvas beneath the chalice: J De Heem fecit Anno 1648. That year Spain made peace with the Dutch Republic at Münster, closing 80 years of war, and de Heem, a Dutchman from Utrecht, was working in Spanish-ruled Antwerp. He painted this for Archduke Leopold Wilhelm, who had arrived as governor the year before. In a stone niche stand a chalice and the Host, the wine and bread of the Mass, and around them runs a cartouche heaped with flowers, grapes, ears of wheat and other fruit. The grapes and grain point to the Eucharist. They could also be read as the gifts of Ceres and Bacchus, the goddess of grain and the god of wine, in praise of the plenty a good ruler brings. A dedication to the archduke was painted on the picture as well, but it can no longer be read.