Pineapples in the seventeenth century were rare and highly valued exotic items. Charles II is shown in this painting receiving a pineapple from a kneeling man, possibly one of his gardeners. For a time this painting was thought to represent the first pineapple grown in England, but in fact it is too early for this to be the case - the fruit must have come from the West Indies. John Evelyn, who waited on the king at a banquet held for the French Ambassador in 1668, recorded in his diary that the king offered him a taste of a pineapple from his own plate. Evelyn was rather disappointed with the taste, saying, 'it has a grateful acidity but tastes more of the quince and melon.' He excused its flavour, attributing it to the distance the fruit must have travelled.