Mr. & Mrs. Cummins Catherwood, Pennsylvania
Galerie D. Benador, Geneva
Private Collection, Europe (acquired by the family between 1960 and 1970 and sold: Christie's, London, June 25, 2008, lot 469)
Acquired at the above sale

Paris, Galerie Charpentier, Nature Mortes Françaises, 1951
Philadelphia, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia Collects 20^th Century, 1963

George Isarlov, Catalogue des oeuvres de Georges Braque, Paris, 1932, no. 349
John Russell, Braque, London, 1959, illustrated pl. 34
Galerie Maeght, ed., Catalogue de l'oeuvre de Georges Braque, Peintures 1924-1927, Paris, 1968, illustrated p. 14
Massimo Carrà, Tout l'oeuvre peint de Braque, 1908-1929, Paris, 1973, no. 217, illustrated p. 96

Painted on cradled panel, panel is sound. There are several horizontal hairline cracks in the support. Few scattered scuffs along the extreme perimeter. Under UV light, no evidence of inpainting. Very good condition.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Fruits, Cruche et Pipe is a fine example of Braque's renewed interest in traditional themes and methods of representation in the mid-1920s. His related paintings are figurative and restrained, and so extraordinary was the change in his style that modern scholars have linked it not only to the art of Cézanne, but also that of Chardin and Le Nain. During this period Braque painted several still life compositions against brown and black backgrounds, many featuring bisected objects like the pitcher painted here. Though more representational in nature, these images still reveal the preoccupation with painterly structure that characterized his earlier Cubist oeuvre. As he later said, "Objects don't exist for me except in so far as a rapport exists between them or between them and myself. When one attains this harmony one reaches a sort of intellectual non-existence—what I can only describe as a state of peace—which make everything possible and right. Life then becomes a perpetual revelation. That is true poetry" (as quoted in John Richardson, Georges Braque, London, 1959,  p. 27).

Fig. 1 Braque in his Paris studio in 1931