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In the painting, a woman can be seen sewing as a hunter walks in, springer spaniel by his side, offering her a dead partridge. She looks considerately at the bird, whilst her other hand reaches towards what might be a Bible or prayer book. This appears to be a reference to the choice presented to the woman within this scene: this being an acceptance of the hunter's potentially sexual offering, or chastity and morality, as embodied by the religious text. Directly above the head of the woman is a statue of Cupid, which serves to reinforce the amorous themes found in the painting. Beside her, on the table, stands a small dog, who stares at the Hunter's. Their interaction comically mirrors the central one, with the different breeds of dogs reflecting the opposing genders, the smaller lapdog being the 'female' and the springer spaniel being the Hunter's 'male' counterpart. .
Whilst on immediate observation this scene may appear quite wholesome, critics have cited a number of veiled sexual references within the painting. Perhaps the most of straightforward example of such is the use of the colour red and its associations with passion and romance, as seen on the woman's clothing and the drapery that covers the table beside her. Further allusions include the shoes, which are kicked off in front of her. Haak describes the shoe as an 'erotically charged object', denoting the woman's power over a man (under her heel) and the woman herself, for the expression 'old shoe' meant that a woman had multiple lovers1. Indeed, there is a sense that it is the woman who is in the position of power- she is the one being propositioned, and she must therefore decide whether to reject or to accept the hunter's advances. But perhaps more simply, the removal of the shoes means that her feet rest on a foot warmer, which, according to the famous Dutch Emblem book Sinnepoppen by Roemer Visscher, is intended to show Mignon des Dames: "a love of the ladies" (see fig 2).
