The bird is a common motif in Adler's work, sometimes combined with still life elements, and this work also demonstrates his experiments with mixed materials to create a textured picture surface. A cutting in the Ben Uri archive reveals that Adler was in contact with Ben Uri in autumn 1937 when it was noted: ‘The famous Jewish artist Jankel Adler, who is now in London’, was present at a ‘festive evening’ in which the Rev. Goldstein sang Yiddish folk songs and presented the Chairman Adolphe Michaelson with a bronze bust, created by Avram Melnikoff, ‘as a token of appreciation for his good work as Chairman of the Society for the last 13 years’. Little else is known of this visit and the acquisition of this still life is only briefly noted in Minutes from December 1937 and again in the Chairman's Draft Report (1938-40) as an acquistion of a picture 'by Yankel Adler of Paris'.