ABRAHAM TENIERS (Antwerp, 1629-1670) THE GUARDHOUSE OF THE MONKEYS Oak panel, three boards, not parqueted Traces of the Antwerp mark on the back. No frame Misses and small accidents The monkey guardhouse, oak panel, three boards, non-parqueted, traces of the Antwerp mark on the back. Lacks and small accidents 46 x 56 CM - 18,1 x 22 IN. PROVENANCE Anonymous sale, Christie's, Monaco, 3 April 1987, No. 5 (follower of David Teniers); In a barn used as a guardroom, monkeys in uniforms are grouped around several tables playing cards or backgammon; a cat that has been taken prisoner is escorted to the door by a group of monkey soldiers brandishing halberds. Despite the humour of the scene, the painter is offering us an underlying criticism of the military troops of the southern Netherlands, who were at war with the north for most of the first half of the 17th century. Popular since the 16th century, it was Teniers who developed this simian theme, of which we know numerous replicas and variants. Teniers' antics can be divided into two periods: the early 1630s in Antwerp and the 1660s in Brussels. The majority of Teniers' monkeys from the early Antwerp period appear as soldiers. But although the monkeys were used as a satire to attack certain classes such as soldiers and actors, they also represented in a broader sense the folly of human nature.