Wendl part 2: three Old Master paintings

Wendl, from Germany, sells on 2 March 2019 a large selection of Old Master paintings, often with low estimates. This is my second (and final) selection of lots.

Lot 4065 is a typical Dutch still life with a bling bling cup and some glassware. The painting, estimated at only 240 Euro, is extremely brown, presumably actual old varnish or an attempt to make it look older and more interesting. It has a monogram PCH, as said by the auction house.

This is the monogram of Pieter Claesz (1597-1660), the most important Dutch painter of this type of still life together with Willem Claesz Heda. He is coincidentally also the father of Nicolaes Berchem (Pieter Claesz was born in Berchem, now a part of Antwerp).

The same monogram can for example be found on this work, sold at Sotheby's for £175,000! I have not yet found an explanation for the "H" in the monogram. It almost gives the impression as if he was a brother to Willem Cleasz Heda. Perhaps it was added as a reference to Haarlem, the city he worked in.

The painting isn't good enough to be by Claesz though, he was an extremely detailed and convincing painter, while the work for sale is good, but a bit simplistic in the handling of materials and the reflection of light on it.

Even so, 240 Euro is ridiculously cheap and buying it at 1,000 Euro would be a very reasonable gamble that cleaning will reveal a quite fine painting.

Lot 4320 is a view of a sculptor's studio. At first, I was going to attribute it to Balthasar van den Bossche, who is best known for these scenes (sculptor or painter workshops); but he has a small number of sculptors reappearing in nearly every work, and this one doesn't match his other works in that regard. So, an anonymous late 17th century or early 18th century work, which needs cleaning, but which is again very cheap at the estimate of 180 Euro.

Finally, lot 4336, signed P. Veen and dated 1685(?) is a depiction of John the Baptist estimated at 800 Euro. I hoped it owuld turn out to be an Otto van Veen with a misread date (perhaps 1625?), but it looks to be a P. Veen after all.

This could be a Pieter Veen (1667-1736), but if so the date is probably misread and should be 1695 or 1698 instead. The RKD shows some 10 paintings by or possibly by Veen, like the one above. Most are better than the one for sale, e.g. the hands in the offered work are very weak. The estimate for this one seems about right, but his works are rare so it is interesting to possibly add one work to his oeuvre.

UPDATE; first sold for 2,200 Euro (240 est.), the second for 1,200 Euro (180 est.), and the final for 900 Euro (800 est.)