T.C. Bale was a London painter of genre subjects who exhibited at Suffolk Street and was evidently influenced by French eighteenth century painting; if the present example reflects Watteau and his followers, another of his titles, The Broken Pitcher, suggests an essay in the style of Greuze. The artist is not to be confused with his contemporary Charles Thomas Bale, the prolific exponent of still life with dead birds and fruit (see lot 197).