archival record:
tall cyan vase with chinoiserie decoration. peacock in profile painted on vessel body — teal and green, facing right, set against a pink ground with botanical branch. the peacock is contained. the arrangement is not. large orange-red poppy, upper left. golden banksia or protea form, left center — dense, radiating, structural. pink peony, center left. yellow narcissus, front center. large orange cosmos or open daisy-form blooms, right center. deep burgundy bloom, right of center. white parrot tulip, upper right. white chrysanthemum, far right. white clustered blooms at center mass. small blue forget-me-not scatter throughout. blue and purple accent flowers. teal botanical foliage dominant throughout. second vessel partially visible at left — green with raised dot or network pattern. flat magenta-pink ground. warm terracotta tabletop. dark purple grapes, left. peach and green-yellow pear or apple, left center. green grapes, lower right. blue fabric or velvet draped at base — left and right edges, pooling on the table surface.

chromatic inventory: flat magenta-pink ground at full saturation — no recession, no atmosphere. cyan vessel in direct chromatic opposition to it. the arrangement does not mediate between them: orange, gold, yellow, white, burgundy, blue, teal — each operating at full register. the blue fabric at the base introduces a third saturated anchor. the fruit cluster reads as a separate still life that has migrated into the picture. the peacock on the vessel is the only element rendered in observed decorative color. everything else has refused that logic.

the peacock was painted to be admired. the painting was not painted for the peacock.

filed under: rogue colorist. bloom. natura morta. contemporary floral painting. post-impressionist lineage. dutch floral inquiry. chromatic subversion. botanical morphology. chinoiserie. peacock. ceramic vessel. still life tradition. banksia. protea.