Sorgh worked in Rotterdam and specialised in peasant scenes. This is one of a pair of paintings - the other is 'Two Lovers at a Table' (also in the National Gallery Collection) - which illustrate ways in which women can make fools of men. Here, the woman cheats the peasant of his hard-earned money; his basket of eggs and the duck suggest that he is on his way to market. His foolishness is mocked by the older man holding a clay pipe.
The panel was probably cut down to an oval after it was painted.
