Primaticcio was one of several Italian artists who worked at the French court at Fontainebleau. This study for a lost painting may depict the Old Testament story of the sale of Joseph by his brothers to Ishmaelite merchants. A man to the left reaches inside his cloak for a purse, and a youth holds a chain as if evaluating its weight. The coffer at lower right seems to give forth a trousered leg, presumably of the bound Joseph.