This interesting still life was created nearly 70 years ago. A very traditional motif but simultaneously modern, executed by André Lhote with his cubist and fragmented expression in a fiery orange colour palette. The painting was made during a period when Lhote broke away from an earlier impressionistic and fauvist style, inspired by, among others, Paul Gauguin and Paul Cézanne, to devote himself to a more cubist approach. The expression is stylised and features a varied play of forms, yet still conveys a harmonious overall impression.

André Lhote was born in Bordeaux, France, in 1885. At the age of 12, he began an apprenticeship with a local cabinetmaker, learning wood carving and sculpture in wood. Later, he studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Bordeaux and painted diligently in his spare time. After a visit to the world metropolis of Paris in 1907, where Paul Cézanne's paintings at the Salon d’Automne inspired the young artist, he moved there. The city was teeming with artists from all corners of the world and was an inspiring place for an artist to live. Lhote joined the influential artist group Section d’Or, which included artists such as Marcel Duchamp, Jean Metzinger, Fernand Léger, among others. In 1910, Lhote had his first solo exhibition at Galerie Druet, and in 1912, he exhibited at the Section d’Or salon with great success.
Unlike contemporary cubists such as Picasso and Braque, who worked with a more complete cubism with entirely fragmented forms, Lhote retained representational and classical elements in his paintings, shaping his own type of cubism.
Lhote taught at several different art schools in Paris before founding his own prominent Académie André Lhote in Montparnasse in 1922. The painting school has influenced several generations of artists who travelled to Paris in the early 20th century. Artists such as Georg Pauli, Prince Eugen, Olle Bærtling, Greta Knutson-Tzara, Philip von Schantz, and Tora Vega Holmström are just a few of the Swedish artists who studied at his school.