Among his earliest depictions of the spoils of the hunt, this picture one of the masterpieces of Oudry’s early career, as impressive in its depiction of natural objects as for the variety and ingenuity of its formal arrangement. It presents a monumental buffet overflowing with food and game, and would probably have hung in a room used for dining. 'The Dead Wolf' is an image of abundance, with the mouth-watering fruit, the game pie decorated with fleur-de-lis and the over-ripe figs, cooling in their porcelain bowl in the stream, all lovingly rendered in lavish detail. Both this painting and its pendant P630 bear witness to a love of the sensual and the theatrical in their subject matter, and are notable for their technical skill, their dramatic lighting and setting, and their subtle palette of white, pale blues, pinks, blue-greens and greys.