De Poolse Muts

De Poolse Muts — Balthasar van der Ast. c. 1620–30.

Medium: brush and watercolor in red, green, and yellow with white heightening or grey wash on antique laid cream paper. Dimensions: Support: 37.5 x 26.7 cm (14 3/4 x 10 1/2 in.); Matted: 49.7 x 39.1 x 0.3 cm (19 9/16 x 15 3/8 x 1/8 in.); Image: 30.3 x 19.9 cm (11 15/16 x 7 13/16 in.).

Collection record: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland. Museum connection according to this source; current display unverified.

Still-life painting began in the Northern Netherlands (present-day Holland) around the turn of the 1600s. Still-life painter Balthasar van der Ast made this precise botanical study of a pink carnation as a reference that he could add later to a painting of an elaborate bouquet of flowers. Van der Ast inscribed the name “The Polish Cap,” on the sheet to suggest that the flower came from foreign lands.

Source: official collection record. Metadata selected and normalized by Artline from the source export, accessed 10 September 2026; no museum endorsement. Reproduction rights are separate.