Almost certainly intended as an exhibition piece, this splendid large still life is a fine and typical example of Baes’s meticulous pastel technique, and may be dated to the decade of the 1930’s. It is of works such as this that the author of a review of an exhibition of the artist’s work in 1934 noted, “Behold a still life by Firmin Baes, extraordinarily true in its tonalities, in the very matter of its objects. The eye is truly touched by the glistening round form of the translucent porcelain, the coarseness of the orange, the softness of the velvet cloth.” Stephen Ongpin (http://vcrfl.tumblr.com/page/246)