Artwork

Still life with stoneware jug, bekerschroef, glassware and a leg of ham

Still life with stoneware jug, bekerschroef, glassware and a leg of ham is an oil painting by the Dutch Golden Age artist Gerrit van Vucht. It dates from 1650 and is held in the collection of the Ashmolean Museum.

About this work

Subject & Meaning

Classified as a breakfast piece, the work presents a collection of food and drink items typically associated with a morning meal in the Dutch Golden Age.

This 1650 oil painting by Gerrit van Vucht depicts a laid table featuring a leg of ham as its central element. The composition includes a variety of drinking vessels, specifically a Westerwald stoneware wine pitcher, a bekerschroef (goblet holder), a rummer, a wine glass, and a chalice. Grapes are also present among the objects arranged on the tablecloth.

Classified as a breakfast piece, the work presents a collection of food and drink items typically associated with a morning meal in the Dutch Golden Age. The specific combination of a cured ham with elaborate glassware and stoneware highlights the material culture of the period, focusing on the textures and forms of everyday luxury items.

Technique & Style

The painting is executed in oil on a wooden panel support measuring 39 × 32 cm. Stylistically, it exemplifies the Dutch pronkstillevens tradition, with meticulous realism and subtle chiaroscuro to render the varied textures of Westerwald stoneware, glassware, and glazed stoneware jugs against the soft folds of a linen cloth.

The composition is anchored by the central ham, flanked by a glass rummer and a wine glass, while the stoneware jug and chalices contribute to a studied arrangement of reflective and matte surfaces. Handling is precise, with careful glazing to achieve luminous highlights on glass and polished metalwork, and restrained impasto on the ham’s glaze and the cloth’s creases.

History & Provenance

The still life was painted by Gerrit van Vucht in 1650 on an oil panel measuring 39 × 32 cm.

It entered the Ashmolean Museum’s holdings in 1939 as a bequest from Daisy Linda Ward, whose ownership is recorded by Wikidata. The painting’s creation date is given as 1650 in both the internal record and the Wikidata entry, which aligns the work with the artist’s known period of activity. There is no documentary evidence linking the work to a specific commission or early provenance before its twentieth-century appearance in Ward’s collection.

The painting, also titled Breakfast-piece with a Ham, is held by the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. It entered the collection through the bequest of Daisy Linda Ward in 1939, following her death the previous year. The work is cataloged under the accession number WA1940.2.31. No specific exhibition history is recorded in the provided sources.

Overview

Created around 1650, this oil painting by Dutch artist Gerrit van Vucht presents a carefully arranged still‑life on a white‑covered table. Central to the composition are a substantial slice of ham, a silver stoneware pitcher, a chalice and a goblet holder, accompanied by smaller dishes, a tall vase with flowers, and a wooden staff propped against the wall. The work is part of the Ashmolean Museum’s collection.