Still life with flowers in a silver and parcel-gilt vase on a pedestal with two moths

The designation 'Master of the Grotesque vases' refers to a group of artists active in early seventeenth-century Italy who specialised in still lifes featuring grotesque vases. One of these artists is thought to be the young Giacomo Recco (1603-1653). For a discussion of this group, see A. Vecca in the exhibition catalogue, 'I Maestri del vaso a grottesche', in La natura morta italiana da Caravaggio al Settecento, Florence, 26 June-12 October 2003, pp. 107-9.