Attributed to Cornelis de Man

Count M. von Fries (L.2903);
Jacobus A. Klaver, Amsterdam 

Unframed. Window mounted on japan paper. The ink is slightly sunk in parts, but overall the condition is fine.
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This drawing was purchased as an illustration of the story of "Jacob and Joseph," but it is not clear what biblical episode it was thought to represent.  The placement of an exotic figure in a down-to-earth Dutch interior is very charming, and typical of the painted work of Cornelis de Man; see, for example, his Man Weighing Gold in the Hornstein Collection, Montreal.¹  De Man, along with fellow Delft artists Jacobus Vrel, Esaias Boursse and Pieter Janssens Elinga, continued and developed the visual traditions established by Vermeer and De Hooch.  Drawings by the artist are, however, unknown, so the attribution is tentative, and based on comparison with his paintings.

1.  See Delft Masters, Vermeer's Contemporaries, exhibition catalogue, Delft, Prinsenhof, 1996, p. 193, fig. 190