On the terracotta dish are freshwater fish: a carp (perhaps two, only the tail of the (?) second is visible) and a roach with an eel. The shells are from the Far East; on the left, an amphidromus perversus (an Indonesian land snail), behind it, a conus marmoreus, with a mitra mitra and a harpa amouretta, all of which were from the Pacific Ocean.12 The oysters on the pewter plate are the common European oyster. Behind is a boiled mussel. Shrimps are laid out nearby. The bouquet in the roemer is made up of spring and summer blooms: an anemone, daffodil, daisy, columbine, and violet and strawberry leaves. There is no reason to doubt the authenticity of this signed work, which is on a support of a single piece of oak timber from the German/Netherlandish area which would have been ready for use from at least 1586. Noteworthy is the limited use of reserves. It is likely that Clara Peeters improvised after aligning the pewter plate and terracotta dish. The bouquet seems almost an afterthought. The combination of flowers and fish is exceptional. Meijer13 suggests that Peeters here contrasted the scent of flowers with the smell of fish, but it is moot that Peeters would have depicted fish that were already putrid. The conceit of including the signature in the composition itself by painting over it an element of a motif – the antennae of the shrimp – is unusual. Various dates have been suggested for the painting: Vroom proposed 1608,14 Hibbs Decoteau 161115 and Segal the 1620s.16 In view of our lack of knowledge concerning Clara Peeters’s biography and the paucity of dated works (one each of 1607 and (?) 1608, three of 1611, five of 1612 and one of 1621),17 dating the present work is conjectural. The motif of a carp on a dish was used by Peeters in four other works, one of 1611;18 the head of a shrimp in three other paintings, one of (?) 1608.19 A different set of exotic shells appears in still lifes of 1611 and 1612.20 The similarity of the arrangement of flowers with that in the bouquet of 161221 and the relatively low viewpoint as in the still lifes of comestibles of 161222 make a date for the Rijksmuseum picture of circa 1612 seem likely, although Meijer has suggested circa 1615.23 This would have been long after the support of German/Netherlandish oak was available for use. Gregory Martin, 2022