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Lot 1 PROPERTY FROM THE HASCOE FAMILY COLLECTION
David Teniers II (Antwerp 1610-1690 Brussels)
An elderly couple weighing money
Closed28 January 2015
Price Realised
USD 87,500
More Information
Specialist note
The subject of a couple weighing gold belongs to the tradition popularized by Quentin Massys, Marinus van Reymerswael, and other early Netherlandish painters, for whom it was associated with the admonition in Leviticus 19:35: "You shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in meteyard, in weight, or in measure". The theme was always understood as a warning against covetousness and greed; indeed, when the present work was engraved in 1760, it was accompanied with the inscription: "What do you wish to do with this Gold? A vain Pile, what folly! Soon you will lose your Life; Will you take your Treasure with you?". Peter Sutton tentatively dates the present work to the late 1640s.