"This is a Piel de Sapo, or Santa Claus Melon. Apparently ‘piel de sapo’ is Spanish for toad-skin, which is a good description of the thick, lumpy green surface of the melon. I am a fan of the great Spanish painter Melendez, and this is a bit of a nod to him and other Baroque fruit painters. 

Baroque painters often positioned objects that seem to thrust out of the painting, breaking the fourth wall and inviting a tactile or bodily response. The fork is my version of the same trick."

Anthony Springford