Vanitas Still Life

The still life centers on a human skull placed on a stack of worn papers and books, with a glass decanter and a wooden candlestick nearby. In the foreground a gilded round container rests on a blue ribbon atop a green tablecloth, while the palette remains warm and earth-toned with browns, ochres, and muted greens. The scene is rendered with precise, naturalistic brushwork and soft directional lighting that creates subtle highlights and shadows, giving a calm, somber mood typical of traditional still-life painting.