This signed Still life with books and a globe of 1628 dates from the Leiden period of Jan Davidsz de Heem, generally regarded as one of the most important and multifaceted still-life painters of the Golden Age. De Heem painted six further still lifes with books while in Leiden, where he had settled in or before 1625. The style and technique, as well as the visible window and wooden partition, indicate that our painting was the first in the series.