Woman Holding a Balance

What you see

Standing at a table, a woman in a white head covering and a fur-trimmed blue jacket holds up a small balance in her right hand, her left resting on the tabletop. She looks down, absorbed. On the table lie open boxes, strings of pearls and coins, beside a crumpled blue cloth. Behind her hangs a large, dark painting crowded with figures.

Light enters from a high window on the left, partly covered by a yellow curtain, and slides along the wall to her face and hands. The rest of the room stays in half-shadow. Watch for the black-framed mirror beside the window, the gleam of pearls on the table and the gilded frame of the painting.