Hanging metal pail

**A dark hanging vessel.** This small pail or container is partly swallowed by shadow below the wicker basket. Vermeer often balances strongly lit passages against dense, quiet darks; here the metal object adds a low glint and a utilitarian note to the left wall. Technical and art-historical discussions of the painting emphasize how such humble objects are not incidental clutter but carefully placed components in the picture’s equilibrium of texture, tone, and daily work. **References:** Rijksmuseum collection record SK-A-2344; Essential Vermeer catalogue entry; Metropolitan Museum of Art essay by Walter Liedtke.

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