Nature morte au potiron et bouteille de rhum

Inscriptions: Signed and dated 1917 (lower right)

Provenance: Léonce Rosenberg, Galerie L’Effort Moderne, Paris

John Joseph Wardell Power, Jersey (Channel Islands)

Maxwell Galleries, San Francisco 

Private collection (acquired from the above circa 1950s)

Sotheby’s, New York, 8 November 2007, lot 310

Notes: Extract from Sotheby’s catalogue note: The present work is a stunning embodiment of the principles set forth in “Du Cubisme.” Among Metzinger’s finest works, it was painted in 1917, a moment when he “became much more interested in bold patterning and decorative detail, and was more likely to integrate typography into the composition […] Small circular forms, representing pipe bowls, bottle openings, cup rims, clocks, fruit, or simple dot patterns, unite various areas of the composition, at times suggesting witty visual puns, such as eyes or olives” (Jean Metzinger in Retrospect, Joann Moser, Daniel Robbins, Jean Metzinger in Retrospect, exhibition catalogue, Iowa City, 1985, p. 45).