Leonhardt, German auction house, sells on 16 January 2016 a "17th century, in style of Vermeer" panel painting of a lacemaking woman in an interior, estimated at 2,000 to 2,500 Euro.
It looks close to some works by Quiringh van Brekelenkam, a lesser-known Dutch master of the interior, whose best works fetch 100,000 Euro and more but who also painted quite a lot of mediocre works in the same style (or many works are incorrectly attributed to him?) This work definitely belongs to the mediocre category, not to his masterpieces, but it's nice to put a name to a work (no matter if it is "by" or "after").
The closest resemblance can be found in the above interior, sold at
Sotheby's New York in 2011 for $158,500. From the window to the left, with the one opened panel, through the lace maker, the white "tapestry"(?) behind her, right through to the fireplace on the right, the similarities are plain to see. The interior in the one for sale is a poorer house, although it has quite a few books.
The above from the Rijksmuseum also contains a few very similar elements, like the chair, the tapestry, the bird cage, the windows, and of course the same shape of the lacemaking tool.
Looking at yet more Van Brekelenkam paintings with similar interiors, I can see that the white tapestry is supposed to be a map, but I can't see whether it is recognisable in the work for sale (it would make it clearly more valuable, as it would appeal to map collectors as well).
The more mediocre Van Brekelenkam can be seen in works like the above "woman scaling fish", or the many works at auction that are sold for a few thousand euros or simply bought in.
The work for sale is cheap, but even as a Van Brekelenkam it won't be worth much more. But I always like to attribute works!
UPDATE: sold for 1,300 Euro, not a lot for this.
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