An older girl teaches a younger one to play a 'saz' (a Turkish stringed instrument) in a setting of marble pillars and niches that suggest the entrance to a mosque. Leighton visited Damascus in 1873, and probably based this architectural setting - resembling typical older Damascene houses - on studies he had made during the trip. The two girls however are European, and while the identity of the elder girl is unknown the younger is Connie Gilchrist (1865-1946). Connie Gilchrist had begun modelling for artists at about four years of age. At seven she made her stage debut as the Prince of Mushrooms in Jack in the Box at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane and went on to appear in many more pantomimes. She became famous for her skipping rope act and was painted by Whistler in her costume (Harmony in Yellow and Gold: The Gold Girl, 1876, Metropolitan Museum of Art).

Later she became a star at the Gaiety Theatre. Connie also modelled for the artist Frank Holl, and after sittings she was sometimes allowed up to the nursery to play with his children. By the 1880s Connie Gilchrist had become one of the most popular actresses of the day but in 1892 she abandoned her theatrical career on marrying the seventh Earl of Orkney and henceforth devoted herself solely to her new role and to country life.