The Bird Seller, c. 1700-10. Willem van Mieris (Dutch, 1662-1747). Black and white chalk on blue paper, laid down on brown paper; sheet: 26 x 22.3 cm (10 1/4 x 8 3/4 in.). In this market scene, the Dutch artist Willem van Mieris portrayed a man and woman in a poultry shop who negotiate over the price of a bird. A curtain is pulled aside above to reveal the sceneas if the viewer sees something in secretwhile a faux relief panel below them portrays amorous putti. Market scenes portraying a man and a woman often carried amorous or lascivious connotations in 17th-century Holland, undertones that were acknowledged and enjoyed by the middle-class patrons who purchased such works.