Still Life with a Chinese Porcelain Jar
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| Still Life with a Chinese Porcelain Jar | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Artist | Willem Kalf |
| Year | 1669 |
| Type | Oil painting on canvas |
| Dimensions | 78.1 cm × 66 cm (30.75 in × 26 in) |
| Location | Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis |
Still Life with a Chinese Porcelain Jar is a 1669 oil painting by the Dutch artist Willem Kalf, located in the Indianapolis Museum of Art in Indianapolis, Indiana. It is a sumptuous still life displaying the sort of costly wares that flowed through the Netherlands during its heyday as a trade center.[1]
In Still Life with a Chinese Porcelain Jar, Kalf selected an array of precious objects with which to showcase the wealth and refinement of the Netherlands and his own skills as a painter. Everything is expensive, imported, or both. The citrus fruit, glassware from Venice, and Chinese porcelain jar are evidence of Dutch sailors' enterprise. Local talent is displayed by Dutch silver and a rummer, or wineglass, with a cherub holding a cornucopia at its base. They stand on a marble tabletop with a carelessly crumpled oriental rug.[1] Amid all that luxury is a lesson: a ticking watch on the silver platter reminds the viewer that such earthly riches are fleeting, and worth far less than eternal salvation. The carefully balanced composition, rich colors, and warm tonalities make this painting an object of beauty as well as moral edification.[2]
