Composition

The subject of a woman drinking tea, and possibly telling fortunes, links this pastel to the lithograph The Horoscope c030. The pose, however, is much closer to another lithograph, The Little Nude Model, Reading c033. The pose and treatment of the body are close, but in the lithograph, the model appears to be reading a book, while leaning on a table, with a bowl behind her, and the suggestion of a fireplace to the left. Whistler played around with the idea of fortune telling. As a subject it added to the mystery of the figure, more than if it was admitted that (as the Pennells noted) she was having a cup of tea. 1

Technique

Whistler used a variety of lines, from zigzag shading to broken lines on the drapes. The outline of the figure was drawn with extreme softness of touch. She is no more than a blur – a suggestion of a figure. Shadows surround her body and blur her softly drawn head. Both butterfly and table have touches of light burnt sienna, the porcelain is blue and white, presumably from Whistler's own collection, the other drapes are in salmon pink and green, the skin scumbled in two shades of very pale creamy pink, and finally, there is a green and brown ribbon in her hair. It is on a pinkish brown rag paper, with fibres and a few big bits of wood-stalk.