BOSSCHAERT, Ambrosius the Elder
(b. 1573, Antwerpen, d. 1621, Den Haag)

Still-Life with Flowers in a Wan-Li Vase

c. 1619
Oil on copper, 16 x 11 cm
Private collection

This still-life of flowers in a Wan-Li vase includes tulips, narcissi, a sweet-briar, liver-leaf, cyclamen, wild pansy and a rose, with a dragonfly, bumblebee and caterpillar.

More than mere decoration, embedded within the still-life are subtle allusions and hidden meaning. The Wan-Li vase is an allusion to flourishing trade with the East and the rare flowers of the wealth and prosperity it had brought. The outer petals of the red and yellow tulip are just beginning to curl back and those of the rose are very slightly browning at their edges. The very beginning of their decay reminds the viewer of the fragility of life, serving as a subtle memento mori, while the caterpillar in turn signifies renewal and rebirth.