Provenance

• Date unknown: bought from Dowdeswell's, London art dealers, by Joshua Hutchinson Hutchinson (b. ca 1829-d.1891);
• ca 1888: returned to Whistler for retouching;
• 1891: returned by Whistler to J. H. Hutchinson's widow, Louisa Henrietta Hutchinson (b. 1836/1837);
• 1891: bought by Howard Mansfield (1849-1938).
• Date unknown: with B. H. Hahlo & Co., New York dealers.
• 1934: probably deposited by Mrs C. J. Sullivan, New York, with W. Macbeth, New York dealer, 1934;
• 1935: bought by Edwin A. Seasongood (1876-1953), New York;
• 1951: sold at auction, Parke-Bernet, New York, 5 November 1951 (lot 301, repr.);
• 1952: given by George Willets Davison (1872-1953), Class of 1892, and his wife Harriet Baldwin Davison (1873-1953), to Wesleyan University.

The provenance is not entirely clear, particularly because it appears in early years to parallel the history of Design for a Mosaic [M.1226], and has been confused with that pastel. See further details in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 1227).

Exhibitions

• 1904: Oil Paintings, Water Colors, Pastels and Drawings: Memorial Exhibition of the Works of Mr. J. McNeill Whistler, Copley Society, Boston, 1904 (cat. no. 116) as 'The Japanese Dress'.