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The picture, probably painted in 1612, bears witness to the influence of Rubens on Snyders’s art in the motif of the boar’s head on a platter, top right, which is copied from Rubens’s Recognition of Philopoemen (1610; modello, Paris Louvre). Snyders often inserted live figures into his still lifes to increase their sense of movement and dramatic tension: here the page, stealing a grape from the sumptuous display, acts as a warning to the audience of the dangers of temptation in the face of material luxury. The prominently displayed dead animals serve as a reminder of the transience of life, implying a need to invest in the spiritual rather than the material.