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Home Features Reference The Still Life Paintings of Willem Claesz Heda - Still-life with goblet (1635)
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Written by Jeff Parker   
Article Index
The Still Life Paintings of Willem Claesz Heda
Breakfast with crab (1648)
Still-life with olives (1634)
Still-life with stoneware flagon (1637)
Still-life with goblet (1635)
Breakfast Table with Blackberry Pie (1631)
Still-life with ham and rummer (1651)
Still Life with Pie, Silver Ewer and Crab (1658)
Still-life with pewter-ware (1636)
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Still-life with goblet (1635)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Still-life with gilt goblet (1635). Several of these items will be familiar by now. The knop beaker, the rummer, the standing salt, the glass Venetian style shell flagon, oysters on pewter plates, a peeled lemon, and a dining knife.

Several new elements appear here. The overturned vessel is a silver tazza, a shallow bowl raised up on a tall stem and foot. Glass versions were also popular. Food presentation was an important element of formal dining and raising dishes up on tazzas enhanced the three dimensional appearance of the display.

The gilded covered cup was a ceremonial item used on important occasions, such as weddings. The very plain lidded pewter flagon, without a spout, would have been very much to the English taste, and could well be of English origin. The overturned forest glass knop beaker to the right of it is a type generally called a berkemeyer. You can find a good example and an explanation of its name at the Rijksmuseum web site.