Drawing on paper, tinted and coloured with watercolours. The painting shows shows a well-to-do woman looking up from an open book which lies on the cushion against which she is leaning. She wears a cap on uncovered hair and a short red jacket over a translucent blouse. Mounted in a pair in a cardboard frame.
This painting is one of a series of watercolours which depict scenes that are well known in nineteenth century Persian painting and commercial photography. Judging by the fashions worn by the painting’s subjects they were probably painted between 1850 and 1875, quite possibly for sale to tourists. This example shows a well-to-do woman looking up from a book which she has been reading. She wears a cap on uncovered hair and a short jacket over a translucent blouse. Blouses like this, which were worn in private with nothing on underneath, scandalised many nineteenth century European visitors (although one suspects that not all were so outraged).
