Christoffel van den Berghe was a flower painter active in the Dutch town of Middelburg, which was known for its horticultural collections. Here he depicts a bouquet that includes both large, cultivated flowers, such as tulips, roses, irises, and lilies, as well as smaller wild flowers, such as snowflakes and nasturtiums. The larger cultivated flowers are rather stiffly arranged in a type of Dutch glass known as a roemer, while the wild specimens are haphazardly inserted between them. This combination of order and disorder, like the contrast between cultivated and wild specimens, suggests that the bouquet functions as a memento mori, or reminder of the transience of life and physical beauty. Other elements of the composition are equally evocative references to the fleeting nature of life. The caterpillar, for example, will become a glorious butterfly, but will live only moments in its splendor. Likewise, the stone niche in which the bouquet is placed is reminiscent of a tomb, and the chips around its edges are a testament to the permanence of death and decay. Katherine Crawford Luber, from Philadelphia Museum of Art: Handbook of the Collections (1995), p. 173.