Woman Fortune Teller with Tortoise
1790
paint
From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
1790
paint
From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
Dominant colour
Woman Fortune Teller with Tortoise is a 1790 paint by Unknown, a Romanticism work, held at Victoria and Albert Museum.
A woman in a blue robe leans over a low wooden table, her hand resting on a round tray. The tray holds a tortoise inside a woven basket. Next to her is a small stool with a black bag hanging off it. She wears a dark hat and looks focused, as if reading something on a piece of paper. The tortoise in the basket is a common symbol for fortune-telling in some cultures. The simple, everyday setting makes the scene feel personal and quiet. Check out the Victoria and Albert Museum to see this painting in person.
A rectangular painting from around 1790 depicts a central figure, possibly a fortune teller, standing at a table and observing a tortoise in a red dish. The work was acquired from G. Parsons and entered the collection in 1886, as recorded in the Asia Department registers during a 2022 provenance research project.
Read the full account in the museum source.
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