The Emperor's Last Mistress

A nude woman with a flower in her hair sits on the ground in a dense garden, legs extended in wide mint-and-maroon striped stockings, gazing toward a tall gilded, faceless armored figure in a dark cloak that stands with its back turned beside a pond. A large smooth white egg-like boulder rests near her feet with a small lizard on it, amid spiky red and green tropical plants.

Warm flesh tones and gold armor stand against a near-black ground and cool jade foliage, light falling flat and even to keep leaves and scale crisply outlined. Smooth, enamel-like brushwork gives the scene a still, hushed, faintly enigmatic mood, as if a private nocturnal ritual has been interrupted.