In an alternate pose of Jessie King possibly taken during the same sitting, the National Galleries of Scotland provides the following commentary on the artist and her relationship to photographer James Craig Annan:

Scottish Jessie M King was one of the most successful designers and illustrators at the end of the 19th century. She was born in Bearsden, Glasgow, and in the 1890s studied at the Glasgow School of Art, where she later taught book and ceramic decoration. King was celebrated for her book illustrations, but also worked in painting, graphics, ceramic, textiles, furniture, silver, enamelwork and jewellery. She and her husband, Ernest Archibald Taylor, ran an art school in Paris and later in Kirkcudbright. The photographer, J Craig Annan, was part of the same Glasgow circle, equally concerned with the need for beauty of design in all aspects of living.

Jessie Marion King (1875-1949) was a Scottish illustrator known for her illustrated children’s books. She also designed bookplates, jewellery and fabric, and painted pottery. King was one of the artists known as the Glasgow Girls. She was described in 1927 in the Aberdeen Press and Journal as “the pioneer of batik in Great Britain”. -Wikipedia (2024)