This painting represents the end of a long tradition of hunting still life which had been taken over by the Dutch from the earlier Southern Netherlandish tradition made popular by Frans Snyders and Jan Fyt, earlier in the seventeenth century. Like the work of the artist’s cousin, Melchior d’Hondecoeter, such pictures were often hung in positions of prominence, especially over chimney-pieces where they would form part of a decorative ensemble.