Over the course of his career, Nash produced still life paintings depicting floral arrangements, commonly choosing seasonal flowers in bloom and depicting them in vibrant colour. In contrast, the flowers here are dried and, so, the palette is more subtle. This is evocative of a contemporary critic’s description of Nash’s landscapes, ‘there is nothing lush in his work, rather the opposite, as if the flesh had been picked off and one was left with bare bones’. The appeal of Nash’s subject lies precisely within their bare bones; the serrated architectural beauty of the sea holly, artichoke heads so parched they look like sunflowers, and the pure white ovals of honesty. Vermilion seeds spilling out of the dried iris pods are the outlier, adding a flash of warmth and vigour to this earthy palette.

This still life reflects the understanding of nature that was woven throughout John Nash's entire artistic career. Though he was born in London, it was his family's move to the Chiltern Hills of Buckinghamshire (1901) that instilled from an early age an appreciation for the quirks of the natural world. Having won a botany prize as a child, Nash then thrived as a plant illustrator, largely working from the wide variety of flowers he cultivated in his own garden. Indeed Nash and his friend Cedric Morris referred to themselves as ‘artist plantsmen’.

This painting likely dates to a small series of still life paintings from the early 1930s.