Still-life, tea service, by Liotard, circa 1781-83

The celebrated portraitist Jean-Étienne Liotard returned to his native Geneva in 1776; that December he turned seventy-four. He spent the remaining thirteen years of his life painting landscapes and still-lifes, like this charming painting of a tea service. Working in oils rather than the pastel he is most known for, his description of the various surfaces - porcelain, silver, lacquer - is exquisite and, I would say... tender.