wall label: This is one of the numerous small paintings of ordinary household subjects done by Chardin in the early 1730s. He frequently made use of the same repertory of objects - a copper pot, skimmer, glazed clay pitcher, cabbage, carrots, cucumbers, turnips - in other compositions. There is a profound orderliness and harmony in these arrangements of utensils and vegetables and a sense of moral certitude in their rustic simplicity. Such values were prized by the rising middle class, who made up most of Chardin's patrons.