For the lighting industry, it is important to optimize the colour quality of the lit visual environment by improving the spectral power distributions of novel light sources. In the present work, two colourful still lifes (so-called tabletop arrangements) were built from several real objects. Visual experiments were carried out to scale the different aspects (dimensions) of colour quality (fidelity, harmony, acceptability, visual clarity, brightness and preference) under incandescent, fluorescent as well as RGB LED and white phosphor LED lamps. The visual ranking among these light sources depended on the particular dimension of colour quality. Generally, the incandescent lamp obtained the best ratings. But in the first still life, the colour harmony ratings of the white LED lamp and the colour gamut ratings of the RGB LED lamp exceeded the incandescent lamp's ratings. In the second still life, the brightness ratings of the fluorescent lamp and the harmony ratings of the white retrofit LED lamp exceeded the incandescent lamp's ratings. To optimize a novel lamp for a given application, the most important dimension of that application can be considered.