What is happening here is that the paint on the vase is beginning
to peel off quite drastically on the left side.

The reason for this is that the underpainting was applied with an oil base paint
and the top final layer was, unfortunately, brushed on with acrylic paint.

Always remember: NEVER paint with with acrylic paints over an underpainting
which has an oil base. Oil will stick to acrylic but not the other way around!
We have here a very graphical illustration of this

Acrylic paint may seem to stick to the oil underlayer,
but the time will come, even many years later, when the separation will occur,
just as has happened to this painting.

There are still many artists who do not know this very important rule

Don't worry about the colour shift of the above photograph and the following photographs.
They were taken in a different lighting set-up.

The three photographs below were taken at an angle in order
to show the flaking better. It is worse in this area because of the thick paint

 

A close-up of painting between the brass bucket and the glass bottle.

Notice the white spots. These are bare patches of the canvas underpainting
where the thin layer of acrylic paint has fallen off. The lightest of scratching was
enough to flake the acrylic layer off from the canvas.
The painting was full of these small bare patches.

The whole surface area of the painting was very brittle so needless to say
I refused to even to retouch some of the areas. It was not possible even to
apply a protective layer on the surface of the painting without destroying it.

One needs to know when not to take a chance on someone else's painting!