From 1736 Jakob Samuel Beck is recorded as having participated in painting a series of 56 works representing The Dance of Death in his native Erfurt.  He is now best known, as he was in his own time, for his attractive still-life compositions.  These often feature still-lives of fruit and vegetables or game and usually include delicately observed insects or birds. Other extant works include a still-life with fruit and a bird, signed and dated 1772, in the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, Koln, two still-lives of fruit in Weimar, both dated 1775, and a still-life of game in Riga.