(Amsterdam 1640–1719)
Partridges, songbirds, a duck, a gun and a quail whistle in a parkland landscape,
signed and dated lower centre and right: J. Weenix 1695 (on the ledge),
oil on canvas, 91.5 x 75 cm, framed

Provenance:
possibly sale, Van der Schleij, Yver, Amsterdam, 9 April 1783, lot 68;
possibly sale, Cornelis Sebille Roos, Jeronimo de Vries, Amsterdam, 28 August 1820, lot 127;
possibly sale, the late S. J. Stinstra of Harlingen and others, Engelbert Michael Engelberts and Albertus Brondgeest, Amsterdam, 22 May 1822, lot 188;
Private collection, France;
until purchased by the present owner

The present painting, dated 1695, is regarded by Anke van Wagenberg to be the earliest dated version and the finest in quality.

Considering the many versions and copies that exist today, the composition must have been very popular. One version, dated 1697, was auctioned at Lempertz, Cologne (25 November 2000, lot 1277). Van Wagenberg does not consider the Lempertz version to be autograph, even though it is signed. Copies are in the collections of the Bristol Art Museum and the Holburne Museum in Bath. A sale at Bukowski, Stockholm (31 October 1978) included another version that was possibly formerly in the collection of Lady Biddulph, then with the art dealer Goudstikker in 1916, and later auctioned at Pongs in Düsseldorf (17 October 1953, lot 80, as dated 1697).

We are grateful to Anke van Wagenberg for her assistance in cataloguing the present lot, which is to be included in her forthcoming catalogue raisonné on the works of Jan Weenix as the prime version of this composition.

ADDITIONAL INFO
The catalogue raisonné by Anke van Wagenburg has now been published by Waanders & de Kunst and the present painting is listed on pp. 325-327, no. 208, illustrated.