A richly dressed woman stands beside a stone basin, her right hand trailing in the water as it pours from a sculpted urn held by a putto at her left. Her gaze meets the viewer directly, her lips slightly parted and her expression calm and composed. She wears a sumptuous gown in deep orange and white, the fabric rendered with smooth, lustrous brushstrokes that suggest the sheen and folds of silk.

A dark fur stole is draped over her left shoulder, fastened with a cluster of gold and pearl ornaments, and a single pink rose decorates her bodice. A string of pearls encircles her neck, and matching pearl earrings hang from her ears, catching the light that falls softly across her face and chest. Her hair is styled in tight curls, adorned with a spray of red-brown flowers above her left ear.

Behind her, the putto emerges from shadow, his body twisting as he steadies the urn from which water streams in a silvery arc into the basin below. The background opens to a distant landscape beneath a cloudy sky, with a tree arching above the figures and soft green fields stretching to the right. The composition balances the vertical figure of the woman with the diagonal flow of water and the rounded forms of the basin and urn, creating a sense of movement within a tranquil setting.

The surface of the painting is smooth, with delicate transitions of light and shadow modeling the sitter’s face and hands, and subtle reflections shimmering on the water. Lady Lucy Percy, Countess of Carlisle (1599 - 1660) was created by Anthony van Dyck between circa 1635 and circa 1645, with the year 1640 given in the museum record. The subject is Lucy Hay, Countess of Carlisle, depicted in a portrait genre and associated with England.