Oil on canvas, 1890, bearing apocryphal signature 'W.M. Harnett' lower left, with labels from The Downtown Gallery, New York, and from the Estate of E.G. Halpert. 17 x 14 in., 24 3/4 x 21 3/4 x 3 3/4 in. (frame).
Note: This painting is apparently a copy after a lost Harnett work. The lost work is listed in the artist's estate sale catalogue held at Thomas Birch's Sons, February 23-24, 1893. It was catalogued for that sale as Bunch of Asparagus, painted 1890, in New York. Alfred Frankenstein references this painting in his book After the Hunt (see below), noting that the signature used here was an adaptation of Harnett's authentic signature simulating the effect of being whittled into wood.
Exhibited: Detroit Society of Arts and Crafts, November 1939; The Arts Club of Chicago, Paintings by William M. Harnett, march, 1940, no. 15; M.H. de Young Museum, Paintings by William Harnett, April-May 1940, no. 14; Portland Museum of Art, August 1940.
Literature: Alfred Frankenstein, After the Hunt, revised edition, 1969, p. 181, no. 3.
Provenance: Estate of Edith G. Halpert, NY; Sold Sotheby Parke Bernet, NY, March 14-15, 1973, Lot 7; Allan Stone Gallery, NY.