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Signed and dated "Sc[hou]man 1779," pencil and watercolor on Dutch paper from the "Fortuyn Mill" at Zaandyk (watermark: Strasbourg Lily; cf. CHURCHILL 404), unidentified blindstamp in lower left (verso). PUBLISHED in NAUMANN cat. 35A including PROVENANCE (selection): Sale of Jan Tak of Leiden, Haarlem: October 10, 1780 as lot 237; then Amsterdam: March 3, 1800 as lot 8; possibly Amsterdam: March 22, 1813 as lot 8 ("F. van Mieris en zijne Vrouw. Naar hemzelven, door A. Schouman. Gekleurd") and possibly sale of W. Hendriks, Amsterdam: February 27, 1838 as lot 9. ANNOTATIONS: "Pourtres van Frans van Mieris d'Oud in zyn Huyvrouw door demzelve gescheldert / Sch[ou]man fecit, na een stukje van den ouden Frans van Mires van ed selvegrooten. Uit cabinet van zijn Hoogheit Prins d'Orange et. etca. 1779" ("Portrait of Frans van Mieris the Elder and his wife painted by himself [i.e. van Mieris] / Sch[ou]man fecit, after a small piece of Frans van Mires [sic] the Elder of his great self. From the cabinet of His Highness the Prince of Orange etca. 1779"). A watercolor copy of Frans van Mieris's self-portrait with his wife and two dogs at the Mauritshuis in The Hague (inv. #108; formerly in the collection of William V of Orange, the last Stadtholder of the Dutch Republic). NAUMANN records at least 10 versions (replicas) of the Mauritshuis composition. The latter was acquired by William V at the Van Slingelandt sale in The Hague on May 18, 1768 as lot 14 (LUGT 1683). A Golden Age interior scene, it plays with iconographical ambiguity (the man pulling the dog's ear) and a very haptic conception of textures such as the carpet fibers, the sheen of the satin and metallic surfaces. Aert Schouman was trained in a variety of media, including painting, drawing, printmaking, and glass engraving. He studied under Adriaen van der Burgh (1693-1733) and became a prolific painter of genre and portrait scenes. However, he was especially celebrated for his plant and animal studies, as well as the "natekeningen," i.e., copy drawings which translated oil paintings into their watercolor counterparts. Auction catalogs suggest Schouman made at least two watercolor copies of Van Mieris' "Teasing the Pet.". Seller Inventory # 6BD0058
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