Middelburg was an important port city in the seventeenth century, surpassed only by Amsterdam in terms of wealth. This prosperity fostered a flourishing local school of painting. Painting floral still lifes developed into a specialization in Middelburg in the early seventeenth century, partly under the influence of Antwerp refugees like Ambrosius Bosschaert. He introduced a new type of floral still life in which flowers were depicted with botanical precision. His work and that of his pupil Balthasar van der Ast were very popular and led to many imitators. Floral still lifes were not painted "from life" but composed by the painter based on drawn or painted studies and were not tied to a specific season. In the floral still life in the De Witte Zwaan collection, we see, among other things, roses, carnations, and a large blue iris. The painting is refined and of high quality.