Scholars seem to agree that the still life was painted in the rue de Rivoli apartment belonging to the collector Victor Chocquet, but the date of execution has differed. Cézanne met the collector in Paris in late 1875, left for the Midi in April 1976 and returned to Paris in early September 1876. The painting was exhibited in the Third Impressionist exhibiton, which opened in April 1877, and bears a red signature like most of the other works by the artist shown. It would seem, then, that the still life was executed between September 1876 and April 1877. But had he completed the work to his satisfaction? Léo Marchutz advanced the notion that Cézanne reworked the still life after the Third Impressionist exhibition, based on his observation that the edges of the canvas were more thinly painted than the heavy impasto of the central area. (See Rewald, 1996, p. 227)
Henri Matisse recalled seeing this painting in one of the Indépendants exhibitions (probably 1902): "I can still hear old Pissarro exclaiming at the "Indépendants," in front of a very fine still-life by Cézanne representing a cut crystal water carafe in the style of Napolean III, in a harmony of blue: 'It's like an Ingres.'
When my surprise passed, I found, and I still find, that he was right. Yet Cézanne spoke exclusively of Delacroix and of Poussin." (H. Matisse, Observations on Painting, 1945, quoted in Flam, 1973, p. 101)