In 2010, Colonial Williamsburg librarian Susan P. Shames identified the artist as South Carolina slaveholder John Rose, and the painting may depict his plantation in what is now Beaufort County.

[5][10] The two women hold what look like scarves, but are actually sheguras, rattles made of a gourd enclosed in a net of variable length into which hard objects have been woven.

[11] For decades the identity of the artist was unknown, as was the painting's provenance before 1935, when it was purchased by Holger Cahill from Mary E. Lyles of Columbia, South Carolina.

[13] Shames further suggests that the image depicts slaves on Rose's plantation in what is now Beaufort County, South Carolina, or one nearby.

[14] In 1775, Rose was named Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas in Beaufort District, an appointment implying his educated status and familiarity with governing officials.

[19] According to Shames, it remained in the family for more than a hundred years, until it was finally sold at an auction of the estate of Rose Rowan Ellis Copes (1846–1927) of Orangeburg, South Carolina, probably in 1928 or 1929.