On June 12, Jean Simeon Chardin’s Sliced melon (1760) sold for €26.73 million (US$28.76 million) at Christie’s Old Masters sale in Paris. The sale shattered the painting’s estimate of €8 million to €12 million (US$8.57 million to 12.8 million). The sale set a new auction record for Chardin’s work and for 18th-century French Old Masters, according to the auction house.
A master of still life, Chardin captured intimate scenes and interiors in vivid paintings. Characterized by impasto techniques and soft lighting, these genre paintings were influenced by 17th-century Dutch still life paintings—even though Chardin himself was French and lived in Paris his entire life.
Melon started First exhibited at the annual Salon of the Paris Academy of Painting and Sculpture in 1761. This work, along with its previous companions, The bocal d’abricots (jar of apricots) (1761), is particularly noted for its oval canvas, a type rarely used by Chardin before or after. Originally acquired by Jacques Roettiers, goldsmith to Louis XV, the painting came into the possession of François Marcille in 1802 and entered the Rothschild Collection in 1876, where it remains today.
In March 2022, another painting by Chardin, A basket of wild strawberries (1761) sold for €24.38 million ($26.89 million) at Artcurial in Paris. The painting, which previously set a record for Chardin and a French Old Master, was purchased by New York art dealer Adam Williams on behalf of the Kimbell Art Museum. The Louvre acquired the painting in February this year, raising €24.38 million ($26.89 million) with the support of about 10,000 donors, including luxury brand LVMH.
