The painting is also known as Boy with a glass and a lute and shows a young lute-player wearing a beret and a draped cloak over his chest, tilting his glass to show it is empty while facing the viewer in order to say "time is up".

According to Hofrichter, the positioning of a figure sitting behind a table is a typical Leyster theme, and the upward glance is reminiscent of her Violin player, while the application of paint is similar to her Two children with a cat.

[1] In the 17th century, the gesture of tipping the glass down to see if a drop of wine appears on a fingernail was a method to show one wanted a refill.

A mandoline-player sits at a table, with his body turned three-quarters right, but facing the spectator.

The top of his orange-yellow mandoline rests on his left arm; the bottom of it lies on the table.