Published caption as title.
Watercolor drawing by Pigal for a lithograph published as no. 30 of a volume of 50 hand colored lithographic plates printed by Langlumé and issued with the title: Recueil de scènes de société. Paris : Gihaut frères, [ca. 1822].
Title inscribed in ink at foot of drawing.
Drawing shows a nervous suitor approaching a bureaucrat, who gives him his little finger; the official holds the suitor's letter in his other hand and on the ground at his feet sits a basket full of similar letters.
Pigal, Edmé Jean, 1798-1872. Recueil de scènes de société. 30.
Ray, Gordon Norton, 1915-1986, former owner.
Reproduced in: The art of the French illustrated book, 1700 to 1914 / Gordon N. Ray. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1982, p. 195.