Who painted Glasses, Smoking Implements, and Cards?

Glasses, Smoking Implements, and Cards was painted by Jan Jansz van de Velde in 1653.

Where can I see Glasses, Smoking Implements, and Cards?

Glasses, Smoking Implements, and Cards is held by Ashmolean Museum.

What movement is Glasses, Smoking Implements, and Cards?

Glasses, Smoking Implements, and Cards is associated with Dutch Golden Age.

Artwork

Glasses, Smoking Implements, and Cards

Jan Jansz van de Velde , 1653

Glasses, Smoking Implements, and Cards is an oil painting by the Dutch Golden Age artist Jan Jansz van de Velde. It dates from 1653 and is held in the collection of the Ashmolean Museum.

About this work

Subject & Meaning

The composition’s sober palette and careful detail emphasize the textures of glass, clay, and paper, reinforcing the material presence of the depicted items.

The painting depicts a tabletop arrangement of drinking vessels, smoking paraphernalia, and gaming cards, typical of a Dutch vanitas still life. A passglass and a wine glass stand near a Gouda clay pipe and tobacco, while cards are placed on the surface, indicating leisure and social pastimes of the period. The inclusion of these objects suggests themes of transience and worldly pleasure, consistent with contemporary moralizing still lifes that caution against intemperance and idle distraction.

The composition’s sober palette and careful detail emphasize the textures of glass, clay, and paper, reinforcing the material presence of the depicted items. Such arrangements often carried allegorical weight, signaling the fleeting nature of temporal enjoyments against the backdrop of mid-seventeenth-century Dutch culture.

Technique & Style

Executed in oil on canvas, the painting measures 43.3 cm in height and 40.5 cm in width. The composition belongs to the still-life genre, focusing on everyday objects arranged on a tabletop.

The handling is precise, with careful attention to the reflective surfaces of the glasses and the matte textures of the pipe and cards. The still-life is characterized by a subdued palette dominated by earthy tones, punctuated by the luminous quality of the glassware. Stylistically, the work exemplifies the Dutch vanitas tradition, with the inclusion of objects such as the pipe and cards suggesting themes of transience and worldly pleasure.

History & Provenance

Jan Jansz van de Velde created the oil-on-canvas painting Glasses, Smoking Implements, and Cards in 1653. The work measures 43.3 cm in height and 40.5 cm in width. It was formerly in the collection of Daisy Linda Ward, who bequeathed the piece to the Ashmolean Museum in 1939. The museum assigned it the accession number WA1940.2.84 upon receipt of the donation.

The painting is held in the collection of the Ashmolean Museum. It entered the institution in 1939 as a bequest from Daisy Linda Ward and is registered under the accession number WA1940.2.84. While the work has alternative titles such as Still Life with a Pipe-lighter, no specific public exhibitions for this piece are documented in the available records.

Context

Glasses Smoking Implements and Cards is a 1653 oil painting by Jan Jansz van de Velde III, currently held in the Ashmolean Museum and bequeathed by Daisy Linda Ward in 1939. The work has been discussed in scholarship as exemplifying Dutch Golden Age still-life conventions, particularly in its depiction of everyday objects such as a passglass wine glass tobacco and a Gouda clay pipe. Its formal qualities and symbolic content have been analyzed in relation to broader trends in 17th-century Dutch genre painting and the evolution of domestic still-life composition.

The painting was accessioned under the number WA1940.2.84 and remains part of the museum’s collection of Dutch still-life works.

Overview

Glasses, Smoking Implements, and Cards is an oil still life painted by Jan Jansz van de Velde in 1653. It is now held at the Ashmolean Museum.