Still Life with Flowers in a Wan-Li Vase

The blue-and-white vase at the heart of this bouquet was made in China under the Wanli emperor, who was still on the throne when Bosschaert dated the picture in 1619. In 1603 ships of the Dutch East India Company captured the Portuguese carrack Santa Catarina off Singapore, and her cargo, including a great load of Chinese blue-and-white, was auctioned in Amsterdam in 1604. The Dutch came to call such ware kraak porcelain, a name usually traced to the carracks that carried it. Bosschaert paints the vase with a gilded band round its neck. Above it rise tulips, roses and narcissi, with a butterfly settling at the edge. A carnation and a cyclamen lie on the stone ledge. The picture is painted on copper, and the museum hangs it in its room of art and wonders.