Juan Sánchez Cotán was a wealthy Spanish still life painter, active in Toledo in the early 17th century.

[12] The painting is notable for its sculpture-like rendering of the food,[10] as well as its illusory perspective; the cabbage and quince seem to be pushed backward from the melon, and the cucumber in front of it.

[13] The separation between the objects and their purpose as nourishment may be intentional, as fasting was practiced by the Carthusians in an attempt to distance the human body from the material world.

[2][14][11] In 1818, the exiled former king of Spain, Joseph Bonaparte, sold the painting to the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.

[5] In 2006, Israeli photographer Ori Gersht recreated the painting, but replaced the quince with a pomegranate, which was then hit with a bullet to represent violence in Jerusalem.