A parrot tulip, roses and other flowers in a basket, on a marble ledge

Though born in the Netherlands, Cornelis van Spaendonck spent his entire career as a flower painter in Paris and as a Director of design at the porcelain factory at Sèvres. The present still life, which is unlined and beautifully preserved, is one of the most perfectly realized creations of his final years, a memorable example of his painterly touch and romantic sense of composition.