Private collection of Steve Cope

An edition of 23 prints with 10 A/Ps of this painting was created for the Chelsea Cheese Show a private exhibition of Furr's cheese paintings at the Chelsea Arts Club 2016 INSCRIBED BELOW IMAGE AS "'MILK BOTTLE', CHELSEA CHEESE SHOW,CHELSEA ARTS CLUB 2016" Printed '/23' Inkjet on archival 315gsm paper. Signed/Dated S. 26.4 x 20.8 cm (10 2/5 x 8 1/4 in.)

Although not a cheese painting, this painting has been included in the collection of cheese paintings as it was, according to Furr, a direct catalyst, for the cheese painting collection.

“De Kooning said 'The trouble with poverty is it takes up all of your time' I agree with this but I was pretty broke when I produced some good Art in my early twenties in Whitechapel) and it provided inspiration and drove my work.

When I was living in my studio in Whitechapel (42 New Road) in the early nineties I was never stuck for something to paint. It was a fertile time. I remember one day putting the art reference books aside and looking around the studio for some inspiration. I had painted on the wallpaper and painted a cup full of mould already so now I needed something else.

They say the best things are right under your nose. My eyes rested on a half bottle of milk on the window sill that had gone off. So I painted this. I suppose a bottle of milk is a bit kitchen sink too. They were everyday then but nowadays it’s a thing from the past. This painting was a catalyst too. It was one of my early still lives of everyday objects/food. I think the idea ripened in the sub conscious and helped to trigger my series of paintings of cheese some years later. My friend Steve Cope, who I gave this painting to as a gift, suggested in 2005 that cheese might be good subject matter so the idea must have curdled in his head.“ – Christian Furr