Cats: the concert

Salle des Ventes de Chinon, in France, sells on 27 November 2019 a "Flemish school, 18th century" cat's concert, estimated at 1,200 to 1,500 Euro.

The work seems to come from the same workshop as one sold at Sotheby's in 2012 for £8,125, described as Flemish ca. 1700. The image is reversed, but many elements are nearly identical. While the one for sale is slightly less precise painted, the price difference is rather large.

A similar work of better quality was sold at Sotheby's in 2013 for $15,000, and was then described as Lombard School, ca. 1700.

Interestingly, the Met Museum has an engraving dated before 1771, by the Swiss Balthasar Anton Dunker, which shows a painting supposedly by Jan Brueghel, from the collection of the Duke of Choiseul. One can even wonder if the one sold at Sotheby's isn't the same one that was then said to be the work of Jan Brueghel, considering the old French noble provenance of that one ("Prince and Princess Henry De la Tour d'Auvergne Lauraguais").

Another version of that work was said to be by Ferdinand van Kessel and dated 1696.

A fragment of a painting with the same orientation as the one for sale now is offered by art dealer Mahringer in Austria. This one stays closer to the engraving than the one offered here though. 

All in all, a standard version of an interesting composition with quite a few copies. This one seems somewhat underrated compared to the prices some better versions have fetched.