Ernest Jean Delahaye (1855-1921), Portrait of a Pekingese Dog "Kit", Signed Oil on Panel, Late 19th Century, Framed

This oil on wood panel is a portrait of a Pekingese, seated square to the viewer against a pale ground worked in soft greys and greens. The coat is the subject of the picture, laid in with short curling strokes of russet, gold and cream that follow the fall of the mane over the shoulders and the plume of the tail carried to one side. The face is worked more tightly, the flattened muzzle and the wide dark eyes given the frontal attention of a human sitter. The paint is thin and the weave of the ground shows through in places. The dog's name, "Kit", is inscribed in the upper left, and the painting is signed in the lower right.

The reverse of the panel carries the stamp of a colour merchant, the supplier who prepared and sold the panel to the painter. Such stamps are among the more useful marks a nineteenth century panel can bear, since the merchants worked from known addresses over known periods and the stamp helps to place the support in time.

Ernest Jean Delahaye (1855-1921) was a French painter who exhibited at the Salon des Artistes Francais between 1875 and 1920. His works are held in several public collections, among them the Musee Carnavalet and the Petit Palais in Paris and the Musee de l'Histoire de France at Versailles.