It is an example of Dutch Golden Age painting and is part of the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

[1] Years later it became apparent that it was a modern forgery, but the attribution to Han van Meegeren is uncertain.

[1] Bache had previously purchased two other old master paintings for similar prices which he subsequently left to the museum: Like A Lady Playing the Guitar, the painting is a quiet witness to the popularity of Vermeer among the US art collectors of the early 20th-century.

The attribution was called into question by W.R. Valentiner soon after the Dutch art collector and critic Vitale Bloch published an article about it in 1928.

What he saw as proof of authenticity was interpreted by Valentiner to be cause for concern, especially since "to hear almost every year of a newly discovered Vermeer may cause suspicion".