A Vase with Flowers

A tall glass vase holds a profusion of tulips, roses and irises, each blossom painted with botanical precision against a dark ground. Jacob Vosmaer was a Delft flower painter of the early seventeenth century, one of the small circle who perfected the Dutch flower piece before it became a national genre. This panel from about 1613 shows the scientific curiosity of the age: every petal is individuated, every leaf crisply lit, a celebration of the tulipmania era’s most precious commodity.