Provenance:

The Rt. Hon. Vincent Massey, Port Hope.
Laing Galleries, Toronto.
Private Collection, Toronto (purchased from Laing Galleries in 1958).

Literature:

David Milne Jr. and David P. Silcox, David B. Milne: Catalogue Raisonne of the Paintings, Volume 2: 1929-1953, Toronto, 1998, page 610, no. 304.42, reproduced.
David P. Silcox, Painting Place: The Life and Work of David B. Milne, Toronto, 1996, pages 272-73.
Ian M. Thom ed., David Milne, Toronto/Vancouver, 1991, page 154, colour plate 102, for a similar canvas painted in 1935 (McMichael Canadian Art Collection).

Exhibited:

Exhibition of Paintings by David B. Milne, Mellors Galleries, Toronto, Nov. 1935, cat. no. 30.
Exhibition of Pictures by David B. Milne, James Wilson and Co., Ottawa, Dec. 1935.
David Milne, Hart House, University of Toronto, 7-22 Jan., 1962.

Note:

Painted at Six Mile Lake, Muskoka, Ontario.

In Pickle Jar, Milne positions his common objects against a dark, dramatic background, forging a starting point for his distinctive creative method. Silcox writes: “Milne’s interest in still-lifes, almost dormant at Palgrave, returned at Six Mile Lake…The objects in his cabin…were the pawns in his exploration of this genre. After an object had caught his attention, he was able to lift it out of its ordinariness into a vision that was often enchanting.”