This charming watercolour is in the tradition of the 17th century still lifes, which was carried through into the 18th and 19th centuries by Van Huysum and Maria Margrita van Os (1780-1862). Biographical details of Haakman are brief but it is known that she married in 1807 the poet Willem Hendrik Warnsinck (1782-1857) and they had a son, Isaac Warnsinck and daughter Jacoba Hermina Warnsinck. After her marriage she changed her name to Cornelia Maria Warnsinck-Haakman.

This watercolour has been signed in the margin, and is very comparable to another watercolour that was on the market over 20 years ago of Grapes, Peaches, Walnuts, Chestnuts, and dated 1803.1

1.Anonymous sale, Christies London, 9 April 1990, lot 109.