Lot 2026 Dα

The components are typical for a still life by Georg Flegel: strawberries, wine, walnuts, bread and butter are presented on a table. Flegel's selection of foods also appeals to modern tastes. The ingredients would be welcome on any contemporary dining table and reflect our current zeitgeist. He omits additions that could be unsettling for today's viewers, for example the fish heads, mice or insects that often appear in comparable still lifes. Flegel guides the viewer's eye through this appetising meal with his skilful use of light and arrangement of the food. The strawberries in the foreground have been placed on green vine leaves which provide a striking contrast, making them the first items to catch the eye. A discarded knife then leads us from the fruit plate to the wine that accompanies it. The elaborately decorated façon de venise glass indicates the wealth of the household. This is also reflected in the Chinese porcelain in which, among other things, expensive butter is served, together with white bread, which was a luxury in Flegel's time. The less luxurious nuts are placed in the second tier of the image, already slightly in shadow, but they too are presented in fine porcelain. The order of the menu was designed to correspond to the doctrine of the bodily humours: the juicy berry was perceived as cold, and should thus be eaten before the dry, warm walnut.