Still life with pewter utensils and Chinese bowls

Executed in oil on canvas, the painting employs a restrained palette and careful chiaroscuro to model the forms. Treck’s brushwork renders the metallic sheen of the pewter and the delicate glaze of the porcelain with precise, yet understated detail, while the dark ground creates a unified spatial field that isolates each object.

Created around 1650, the painting entered the collection of the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin, where it remains on display. Its provenance traces back to private Dutch collections before being acquired by the museum in the early 20th century, illustrating the work’s continued relevance to scholars of Dutch Golden Age still life.

The inclusion of a Kraak‑style Chinese bowl signals the extensive maritime trade networks that supplied Europe with Asian ceramics in the 17th century. Such objects were prized for their rarity and decorative appeal, and their presence in Dutch still lifes serves as a visual record of the cultural exchange fostered by the Dutch East India Company.