The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This painting is in beautiful condition. The oak panel has an old cradle which is keeping the panel flat and the paint layer stable. There are two small breaks on the bottom edge. One measures about one inch, the other is approximately 1/2 inch in length. There is a small amount of unrestored paint loss here. On the left and right side there are additions which are not original, both measure about an inch wide. Although elements of the original still life would be abbreviated if the additions were removed, it may well be that the artist intended the format of the work to interrupt these leaves, flowers and insects. The still life itself, excluding these additions, is in perfect condition. There is some loss to these additions in the upper left as well as in the upper and lower right. The work is in beautiful condition and, if cleaned, will be even more impressive.
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This large, elegant panel shows Van Kessel at the height of his powers.  Previously unknown, it can be dated to the 1650s, a period of great productivity and prosperity for the artist.  In 1652 he painted a series of eleven magnificent floral still lifes on copper, presumably for a Spanish patron, which are generally considered his greatest achievements in this genre.  Three years later he was doing well enough to buy De Witte en de Rode Roos, a house near the Sint-Joris cemetary in Antwerp.

Tulips, roses, peonies and other flowers in a roemer is one of Van Kessel’s largest flower paintings apart from those in the 1652 series, an indication of its value and importance at the time.  It was most probably conceived as one of pair, for a painting of roughly the same size (52.4 by 35.6 cm.), also showing the flowers in a roemer rather than a vase, was included in a sale at Christie’s, London, 10 December 2003, lot 12.¹  It also had additions at the left and right and, except for two pictures from the 1652 series, they are the only paintings we know of in which Van Kessel uses a roemer rather than a vase. The size and elegance of Tulips and roses in a roemer and its pendant would suggest it was an important commission ಌfor Van Kesselꦕ. 

This pairing of paintings according to the vessels holding the flowers also occurs in the 1652 series:  there are two pairs of elaborate Chinese porcelain vases with gilt decorations – one with a purely floral design and one with a lion’s face; two pairs with glass vases – one a tapered vase and the other a rounder, squatter vase with a beaded design; and one pair with roemers, such as that here.²  

The present work is conceived with a restrained grandeur, the dominant 🌄parrot tulips above are balanced by the large pink roses below.  Interspersed are small🦩 blooms, but we never lose the sense of the space in the arrangement of the flowers.  Around the edges hover various insects.   While Van Kessel was the grandson of Jan Breughel the Elder and most probably trained by Jan Breughel the Younger, the precision and clarity of his brushwork here reflects the influence of Daniel Seghers rather than the Brueghel circle. In addition, because of the remarkable condition of the paint surface we are able to see Van Kessel at his best. 

We are very grateful to Fr🐻ed G. Meijer of the RKD fo⛦r his help in dating this picture and endorsing the attribution. 

1.  K. Ertz and C. Nitze-Ertz, Die Maler Jan van Kessel der Ältere, 1626-1679, Jan van Kessle der Jüngere, 1654-1708, Jan van Kessel der "Andere", ca.1620-ca.1661, Lingen, Germany, 2012, p. 298, cat. 493, who date it to the 1660s and do not mention the additions. 
2.  Ibid., cat. nos. 565 and 566; 563🍃 and 564; 514 and 515; 489 and 490; and 491 and 4﷽92.   Unfortunately the illustratiions for 490 and 491 appear to have been switched.  The eleventh painting from the series, cat. no. 567, has a simple blue Chinese vase