Still Life With Chinese Porcelain - Attributed To François Habert

True promise, our intimate composition is the expression of an ardent love. Like a theater scene flooded with scarlet, our still life unfolds on an entablature. The shell which evokes fertility, the apricots which refer to the texture of the skin and sexuality, and above all the abundance of cherries full of juice are all demonstrations of the fire that inhabits the lover.
But the nature of this love is not only carnal: the two rings which are entangled in front of the precious jewelry box as well as the chapel painted on the fabulous Chinese porcelain evoke a real intention of engagement.

Our painting is a demonstration of the master's virtuosity, which pays great attention to light, making it play on the surfaces of the objects represented, accentuating their particular texture: pearly shell, porcelain, velvet, fruits and leaves.

Our precious painting is delicately underlined by a carved and gilded wooden frame from the Louis XIII period.
Dimensions; 35.5 x 29 cm - 44 x 37.5 with the frame

François Habert (active in the 17th century). The biography of François Habert is very poor, his name appears only in two inventories including that of Philippe de Champaigne. And although we do not know everything about his training, his first signed works date from the 1640s. The information written on his missing career, his art and his style leaves no doubt as to the fact that he was immersed in the group of painters Dutch and Flemish who work in Saint-Germain-des-Prés. The influences of Jan Davidsz de Heem, Willem Kalf or the French naturalized Flemish Jean-Michel Picart are perceptible in his work.