A seated woman in bright red drapery and elaborate jewelry smokes a hookah while a male barber, with cleaning pins tucked into his turban, cleans her ear with a tool. The figures are rendered in bold, flat washes of gum tempera, with black ink outlines and minimal shading. The woman’s exposed breast and relaxed posture, along with the barber’s close attention, suggest an intimate, possibly flirtatious exchange.

The background is left blank, focusing attention on the figures and their interaction. Barber Cleaning a Woman’s Ear (Kalighat Painting) was created by an unknown artist in Bengal around 1890, using gum tempera, graphite, ink, and tin on paper. Kalighat paintings from this period often satirized the social aspirations of newly wealthy Bengali clerks, known as babus, who imitated British fashions and manners. The work is part of the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art.