This is one of only seven securely attributed still-life paintings by the Spanish artist Juan Sánchez Cotán. Each one depicts food arranged in a dark, shallow niche. Balanced on the ledge is a curved cardoon, an edible plant related to the artichoke. Hanging on the wall is a type of game bird called a francolin.
Sánchez Cotán’s still life paintings appeared to cease after 1603, when he devoted himself to working at a Cistercian monastery in Granada. Four hundred years later, with the growth of abstract art in the 20th century, there is a renewed interest in the artist and his use of spare, geometric settings.
The Arts of Golden Age Spain and the Hispanic World 