(probably active in Paris and Nancy circa 1640–1660)
A porcelain bowl with cheese, a glass of red wine, a stone jug and a smoking candle, with a pipe, a knife, two smoked herrings, bread and a mouse on a ledge,
monogrammed lower right on the bread: R,
oil on canvas, 52 x 80.5 cm, framed

Provenance:
possibly collection of Hermann Wedewer (1811–1871), Wiesbaden;
his sale, J. M. Heberle, Lempertz, Cologne, 1 May 1899, lot 197 (as Jan Albertsz Rootius);
Private collection Germany;
sale, Lempertz, Cologne, 6 December 1997, lot 1140 (as German Artist, 17th Century);
Private collection, Paris;
with Jan de Maere, Brussels;
where acquired by the present owner

We are grateful to Fred Meijer for confirming the attribution after examining the present painting in the original.

The present composition is one of the only two known autograph works by the artist. Both works depict an identical composition of similar size. The first known work was formerly with Jacques Leegenhoek in Paris and was offered at Koller in 2012 (see sale, Koller, Zurich, 30 March 2012, lot 3030, as Abraham Le Roy). An inscription on the reverse of the Leegenhoek version led to the identification of the artist. It is therefore that the R on the round white bread in both works may be interpreted as the monogram of the artist. 

Author Michel Faré described Abraham Le Roy as probably one of the best representatives of the archaic still life genre in 17th century France (see M. Faré, Le grand siècle de la nature morte en France, le XVIIe siècle, Fribourg 1974, pp. 142–143). According to the author Le Roy remained unacknowledged for a long time, which must be due to the sparse known biographical facts of the artist’s life and because of his small, noted body of work. Abraham Le Roy was active in Nancy and most likely in Paris as well. In the latter city an Abraham Le Royer or Le Roy is documented as his son, Jean, who worked as a miniature painter and produced flowers in watercolour on vellum.

Stylistically the present work is reminiscent of the earlier created still lifes in the Low Countries and recalls the works of Georg Flegel, Floris van Schooten, Osias Beert and Clara Peeters. Especially the little mouse in the present work relates to similar mice in some of Flegel’s compositions. For the trained eye both the nibbling mouse and the smoking candle are motifs symbolising the theme of mortality and the fragility of life.