Woman Holding a Balance

Vermeer shows a woman in a blue gown and white head covering standing at a wooden table, weighing small objects with a delicate balance scale while jewelry rests on the surface, and light from the left softly models her face and the folds of her clothing. The composition centers on the figure and the scale, with a framed painting on the wall behind adding depth to the quiet interior. The palette is restrained—blue, white, browns, and gold—executed with the smooth, precise brushwork and natural light typical of Vermeer’s Dutch Golden Age genre scenes.