Still Life with Crockery, Onion and Kohlrabi

Paper is tied over the mouth of the pale green jar, and a strip tucked under its string carries two Latin words, Mors in olla, death in the pot. They come from the Old Testament. During a famine, a servant of the prophet Elisha gathered wild gourds for a stew, the men who tasted it cried out that there was death in the pot, and Elisha made it harmless by throwing in flour. On a kitchen jar the words may be a warning against excess at table, though Punz left no explanation. An ochre jug lies on its side, a round wooden box props up the jar, and on the blue wall an onion hangs from a nail, already putting out green shoots. She signed and dated the canvas in 1754 on the edge of the wooden board.