A young boy in eighteenth-century dress stands at a desk, his gaze lowered toward a spinning top resting on the surface before him. The painting is rendered in oil on canvas by Jean Siméon Chardin in 1738. The boy’s powdered hair is tied with a black ribbon, and he wears a brown coat over a pale blue waistcoat, with a white cravat at his neck. The composition is simple and balanced, with the boy occupying the right half of the canvas and the desk, books, and writing implements arranged to the left.

Light falls gently from the left, illuminating the boy’s face and hands, while the background is subdued in tone, marked by vertical stripes. The spinning top, quill, inkpot, and books are depicted with careful attention to texture and detail, emphasizing the quiet atmosphere and the boy’s moment of contemplation. Painted in 1738, Boy with a Spinning-Top belongs to a period when Chardin was known for his genre scenes that depicted everyday life with restraint and sensitivity. The work is part of a tradition of French eighteenth-century painting that focused on childhood, domestic interiors, and simple pleasures.

The painting is documented in a modern photograph by Shonagon dated 2022-06-21, but further details of its provenance or current collection are not specified.