How does Jolly Toper elucidate its Provenance?
The painting was sold in Hotel Drouot in Paris in 1890 as by Hals or a son to Schiff and was bought by the Rijksmuseum in 1897 from F. Kleinberger of Paris. The painting is signed and dated on the back wall above the tankard.
According to Hofrichter, the scene shows the popular Peeckelhaeringh figure in 17th-century comic plays. The Peeckelhaeringh or Pekelharing character is often shown as a "Kannenkijker", or jug-looker. This is a signal that the mug is empty and the show is over. The figure in this painting bears a resemblance to another, similar painting, also by Leyster, but less finished.
Rijksmuseum F. Kleinberger Peeckelhaeringh