Framed Still-Life Oil — Basket of Red Apples, Ornate Gilt Frame, 20″ × 18″

A carefully painted still-life oil on canvas — a wicker basket of red apples spilling onto a teal-green tabletop, with a wheat sheaf tucked into the lower right corner. The apples are the real achievement here: each one rendered with individual highlights and shadow, the sliced sections showing the white flesh and core with real precision. The teal planks beneath give it a slightly naïve quality that keeps it from feeling stiff, despite the technical competence of the fruit painting.

Signed lower right — the signature is present but illegible. Catalogued on verso with inventory number N42, suggesting a provenance from an organized collection or gallery.

The frame is the other thing worth noting. At 4 inches deep with acanthus-leaf relief at the corners and a ribbed gilt cove liner, it transforms a compact 7.5″ × 9.5″ canvas into something that reads substantially on a wall. The scale difference between painting and frame is intentional and very much in the tradition of how small 19th and early 20th-century still lifes were presented.

Details

• Medium: Oil on stretched canvas, signed lower right (illegible)
• Subject: Basket of red apples, sliced fruit, wheat sheaf on teal-green tabletop
• Era: Mid-20th century, traditional realism
• Frame: Carved wood, antique-gold finish, acanthus-leaf corners, ribbed cove liner, 4″ deep profile
• Verso: Inventory number N42
• Framed: 20″ W × 18″ H × 4″ D
• Sight size: 9.5″ W × 7.5″ H

Condition Excellent. Canvas clean, paint layer stable with no flaking. Frame shows only minor gilt rubs at the outer tips — no losses or separations. Ready to hang with sturdy wire.

Placement This belongs in a kitchen, a dining room, or anywhere food and gathering happen. The subject is traditional but the execution is confident enough that it works in a modern context as well — the teal tabletop and jewel-toned reds read as considered color choices rather than accident. Works alone or as part of a grouping of small oils.