Apricots, grapes, a fig with a butterfly, blackberries and a white moth on a marble ledge in an Italianate landscape

This beautifully preserved, small-sized still life is an excellent example of Jan Mortel's mature oeuvre. The elegant and complex composition shows a modest display of various fruits with a moth and butterfly. It appears to be arranged on a ledge of a terrace, with a park landscape below. In the distance two figures take a stroll on a path near a cyprus and the wall of a high terrace or balcony.

Jan Mortel seems to have spent his entire career in leiden. In 1675 he became a member of the local guild, having studied with Jan Porcellis van Delden, grandson of the well-known marine painter.