Breakfast with crab (1648). Dutch paintings of this period were rich in symbolism which had meaning to contemporary audiences, but which has been almost completely lost to us now. Most still life pictures celebrate the enormous wealth enjoyed by the Dutch republic but contain warnings that pleasure must not take precedence over duty to God and to our fellow beings. The overturned gilded cup in this painting may be one such reminder.

The crab is set on a simple pewter plate. The clear glass façon de Venise (Venetian style) flagon in front of the crab would be for a dressing and is in the shape of a shell, a very popular motif.

The blue and white bowl containing nuts is Kraak ware, a style of Chinese porcelain created for the European market and imported by the Dutch East Inda Company in vast quantities.

The green forest glass goblet to the right of the silver flagon is in a popular German style known as a römer (rummer). a bowl set on a thick hollow stem decorated with prunts (sometimes called knops). The short glass beaker next the the römer is of another popular German type called a nuppenbecher (knop beaker), a term widely used for any glass without a stem and having prunt decorations.