Previously the painting were attributed to an unknown artist, but the attribution to Boelema is corroborated above all by a comparision with his signed still-life, dated 1648, in Ateneum in Helsinki.
The various objects in the pictures were obviousley transferred from a sketch in some way; ink sketches were normally pounced and coal dust was applied through the holes. One interesting detail which proves that this reusing of sketches did not restrict itself to one artist alone is the knife which originally must have come from Willem Heda and also spread to Pieter Claeszoon as they have painted identical knife handles on several paintings.