Willem van Mieris, The Bird Seller
Severance Fund, 2019.10 · The Cleveland Museum of Art, Open Access (CC0)View original →
Willem van Mieris

The Bird Seller

c. 1700–1710

Current Collection

Cleveland Museum of Art

Cleveland, United States

Medium
black and white chalk on blue paper, laid down on brown paper
Dimensions
26 × 22.3 cm
Status
In Museum Collection
Collect24 Art ID
C24-213242

In this market scene, the Dutch artist Willem van Mieris portrayed a man and woman in a poultry shop who negotiate over the price of a bird. A curtain is pulled aside above to reveal the scene—as if the viewer sees something in secret—while a faux relief panel below them portrays amorous putti. Market scenes portraying a man and a woman often carried amorous or lascivious connotations in 17th-century Holland, undertones that were acknowledged and enjoyed by the middle-class patrons who purchased such works.

Provenance

Severance Fund, 2019.10

Registry history

  • c. 1700–1710 — Recorded in the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art — drawings

Registered on Collect24

The identity of the collector is never published. Purchase information, documents and the exact location of the artwork remain private.

Ownership not yet verified on Collect24

This artwork is documented in the Global Art Registry, but no Collect24 account is linked to it as the owner. Claiming keeps this record and its Collect24 Art ID — nothing is created a second time.

Do you own or represent this artwork? Claim this artwork →

Auction history

Public sale records matched to this work. Ownership is never disclosed.

Loading sale records…