Still life with peaches in a Tazza, hazelnuts on a pewter plate, raspberries in a basket, with pears and a squirrel on a table

This undated panel still life presenting peaches in a tazza, hazelnuts on a pewter plate, raspberries in a basket, pears, and a squirrel represents Snyders's most intimate register — the cabinet still life for domestic display. The squirrel's repeated appearance in Snyders's work signals not merely decorative variety but specific iconographic meaning: the animal's industrious hoarding of food was read as an emblem of prudent domesticity and seasonal preparation. The pewter plate was an important inclusion in Flemish still life, providing a cool metallic surface that contrasted with the warm organic tones of the fruit and introduced a different class of reflective surface for the painter to describe. Hazelnuts specifically appear in autumn harvest contexts, suggesting this is a seasonal composition of late summer or early autumn abundance. The panel support and intimate scale indicate this was a luxury cabinet picture rather than a public or decorative commission. The combination of a tazza (a precious vessel), pewter (a middle-class metal), and a basket (a utilitarian container) ranges deliberately across social registers of ownership.

The panel's smooth surface allows for finely graduated tonal modelling in the fruit, with the peaches' characteristic blush and fuzz painted through a combination of smooth glazes and light dry-brush texture. The pewter plate's reflective surface is described through careful tonal gradation from bright highlight to dark reflected shadow. The squirrel's tail is painted with individual hair strokes visible at close range.