# A Hunter’s Bag near a Tree Stump with a Magpie, Known as ‘The Contemplative Magpie’

- By: Melchior d'Hondecoeter (Utrecht, 1636–1695)
- Date: c. 1678
- Medium: canvas, oil paint (paint)
- Classification: painting
- Dimensions: height 215 cm x width 134 cm
- Museum: [Rijksmuseum](https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/collection/object/SK-A-170--97c88445b0823c4098f2ed607fefe6ba)
- Rights: [Public Domain Mark](http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/)
- Picture: https://iiif.micr.io/EysGj/full/!1920,1080/0/default.jpg
- Who can see it: Teens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

Commissioned by King William III of Orange, d’Hondecoeter painted these two hunting still lifes for Soestdijk Palace. They hung facing one another in a corridor whereby the magpie in this painting ‘speaks’ to the peacock in the other one. Together they depict a fable in which the birds must choose a king. The magpie objects to the peacock. With its splendid plumage how can it effectively defend its fellow birds in times of peril?