MIERIS, Jan van
(b. 1660, Leiden, d. 1690, Roma)

A Cavalier Seated at a Table

1681
Oil on panel, 25 x 19 cm
Private collection

This painting depicts a cavalier seated at a table smoking a pipe, with an opened tobacco box, a wineglass, a flask and a pile of playing cards and coins, with a landscape beyond.

Genre painting from the seventeenth century usually conceals a hidden message underneath what appears to be a scene from everyday life. This also seems to be the case in the present picture with a hidden Vanitas theme.