Still-Life with Attributes of the Arts

Still-lifes are the most precise expression of Chardin's genius. People, animals, flowers, inanimate objects. all were less than things to him: they were mere cavities filled with colour and light in the required degree and order. This still-life is one of the tributes Chardin made to his contemporary, Jean-Baptiste Pigalle, whose Mercury Tying his Sandal reigns over the attributes of the other arts.