It shows a young woman with a very large and impressive millstone collar.

The small cap on the back of her head is held in place by a hoop set with pearls.

naer dato getrout aen de Hr: Borgermr.

Mentioned by Bode, p. 405; Dutuit, p. 45; Michel, p. 558 [433]; Hofstede de Groot, Oud Holland, xxxi.

In 2017 the portrait was sold at Christie's in London as a Rembrandt portrait of the wife of Philips Lucasz, whom the bride had met a few years earlier in Batavia where Philip was based with the Dutch East India Company (V.O.C.).

[1] Petronella had travelled there in 1629 with her sister Maria Odilia Buys and her husband Jacques Specx, also employed by the V.O.C.

[1] In 1633 Philips and Petronella married shortly after their arrival back in Holland on 4 August 1634 at The Hague.

[1] The painting was probably a gift from the bride to her sister, as a way to remember her after she left for the Indies.

The painting remained in the Specx family, documented as being in the collection of their daughter Maria in 1655.

[2] It was exhibited in the collection of the art dealer Katz in 1938 and was subsequently in the collections of André Meyer and Wildenstein & Co.[2] In 2017 it was sold from the divided estate of Paul-Louis Weiller for GBP 3,368,750.