During this period young children of both sexes wore skirted garments, which can make differentiating between boys and girls in portraits difficult. Small clues however can be revealing – the cut of the doublet seen here echoes fashionable styles for men at this date, suggesting that this painting portrays a boy. The careful arrangement of the pomegranate-patterned fabric across the doublet and skirt would have required excess material and been expensive. The over-large scale of the pattern suggests it may have been remade from adult clothing.