It is a simple winter squash with pinky-orange skin. Its skin looks like brown because that part of a piece of squash is in shade.

Thanks avgusta...... I guess what I wasn't understanding was why it was cut that way....I understood it being cut in half, to expose the seeds and fibrous stuff.....but why was it cut on that side? I always want images to make sense to me....haha I love the rest of the image.......persimmons, mushrooms, chestnuts, peppers, etc......but that one part just doesn't sit right with me. Or do you think it's an entirely different squash from the one that's cut open to the left? I know, I know.....I'm obsessing. But that's what I do best! :)

It is a squash that is cut just like the one in the picture av provided only the pointy end of the cut is to the back in the puzzle and the squared off end in toward the front. The darker area on the front is the skin in partial shadow. You can't see the bottom "U" of the cut because the mushrooms are blocking it.

Please forgive my slowness with this. I've done tons of puzzles and never had a problem "seeing" something like this before. Ok..........am I right in assuming that those pieces are the same squash, just cut in half? And Josie....you're saying that the squash was just cut down the middle and the pulp parts are facing each other and the brown side we're seeing is the outside of the squash? Why does it look like it has a dark, caved in part and it also looks around the outside edges like it was cut? This must seem so weird to you all, my obsession with understanding what I'm seeing. hahaha I just want it to make sense. It's a neat puzzle image for me, except for that one thing I can't understand. Thanks for helping me! I hope I'm not having a stroke. hahaha (I know....not funny).

to find answer is easy find artist name look it up.

remember read an article several pieces of art from that era and the type squash is list in the article about the art work.

or you can look in the book compleat squash by Amy Goldman

It's a modern photograph, not a still life painting.

I agree the squash looks very odd but I think it's just a strange angle.

I thought it was a painting, not a photograph.....but I wondered. Also....by the chestnuts still in their covers, it's a little blurry. I didn't know if that showed that it was a photo, or if the printer screwed up in reproducing the image. I'm almost done with this and I'm glad. It was a well-made puzzle, but the dark areas around it all made me crazy. Now it's back to nature/animal puzzles. Thanks for help with the squash. It still looks weird to me..........

It was made in Poland.

If you take out two mushrooms in front of the piece of squash, you will see 1 whole piece just like on a photo what I have posted.

Nothing is weird about this piece of squash.

It looks "caved" because the squash is not smooth outside, but has "ribs'. Look at the whole squash on a picture in my previous post.

If you do a google image search you'll find the original picture. It's a photograph.

Thanks everyone. I guess what threw me off was the color. If it had been more orange, I may have "seen" it better. Hmmm.....I really thought it was a painting. Anyhow.........mystery solved. I just finished the puzzle a few minutes ago.

Thanks for helping me understand what I was seeing!