Bust of a Man in Oriental Costume,

Paintings of individual figures in Holland in the seventeenth century that were neither portraits nor history paintings are called tronies (heads, faces, grimaces). The emphasis is on the virtuoso depiction of exotic characters and their accoutrements. With great artifice, Rembrandt characterises the various textiles and metallic surfaces. Such are the lengths of cloth wound into the turban, captured in just a few long, fluid brushstrokes that thicken to form a pastose relief above the temples.