A gilded wine cooler with artichokes, wine glasses and a stoneware jug, a silver dish and a bread roll on a draped table,
bears signature and date lower right: ALex . Aderianfen . f . 1647,
oil on canvas, 62 x 82 cm, framed

Provenance:
Collection of Theodoor Van Lerius, Antwerp, before 1881;
sale, Phillips, London, 18 April 1989, lot 71;
with David Koetser, Zurich, 1989;
Private collection, Switzerland

Literature:
T. Van Lerius, Biographies d’artistes anversois I, Alexandre Adriaenssen (en Flamand Alexander Adriaenssen) (1587-1661), Maatschappij der Antwerpse Bibliophilen, 8, Antwerp 1880, pp. 20-21;
F. J. van den Branden, Geschiedenis der Antwerpse Schilderschool, Antwerp 1883, p. 42 (as Alexander Adriaenssen);
A. von Wurzbach, Niederländisches Künstlerlexikon mit mehr als 3000 Monogrammen, vol. I, Leipzig 1906, p. 3 (as Alexander Adriaenssen);
D. Koetser, Fine Old Master Paintings, principally of the Dutch and Flemish Schools, Zurich 1989–1990, cat. no. 3, ill. (as Alexander Adriaenssen);
G. Spiessens, Leven en werken van de Antwerpse schilder Alexander Adriaenssen (1578–1661), Brussels 1990, pp. 132–133, pl. 35 (as Alexander Adriaenssen)

An attribution of the present painting to Frans Ykens (1601 – before 1693) has been suggested by Fred Meijer. Meijer notes the vibrant palette, dramatic lighting and overall quality of the handling the picture, which is in his opinion superior to that of any work by Adriaenssens. Meijer groups the present work with several others, once attributed to Osias Beert (circa 1580–1623). As Ykens was one of Beert’s most gifted pupils, the question of authorship of this refined canvas remains a tantalisingly open art historical question.