In the past this painting was held to be the work of an anonymous master from the Netherlands in the 17th century; its attribution to Jacopo da Empoli was established by K.M. Malitskaya (1960).
One of two paired works in the collection of Molinari Pradelli (Marano di Castenaso, Bologna) provides a close parallel with the Moscow picture. It is almost identical in size but bears a signature and date: addi 22 di luglio 1625 Jacopo da...
The still life in the Pushkin Museum has a paler and cooler range of colors.
Provenance: acquired by the Pushkin Museum from the Fifth Proletarian (Rogozhsko-Simonovskii) Museum in Moscow in 1924.