Featured information requested on this lady with a tea cup

I have had this piece for a couple years now and can no longer locate information on the gallery it hung in. I'd love to know any information and any tips to pull a signature. When I first got this I could faintly view a signature in the bottom right but now either my eyes have gone bad or it's completely faded.
Please help

 

I often feel uncomfortable when viewing the back of what is supposed to be "canvas" (perhaps with some gesso seeped through it) and when I am presented with the back of the fabric as "finished off" with some kind of stain / lacquer.

Am I looking at the back of the canvas here, or an extra piece of fabric covering it?

 

She is beautiful, Jim. Reading tea leaves, or coffee grounds?
As anti thought, there is something covering the back of the canvas. Maybe for support because there are some condition issues?

 

I have bad eyesight, but I don't see condition issues to support that theory.

 

I know nothing about the painting itself, but it looks to me as if she's "reading the tea leaves" inside the cup.

 

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Could you retake the picture of the area with the sig? That cast shadow is in the exact wrong spot. I think there is info to be had, just need a better pic.

Looks to me like the piece might have been folded(?) at some time. Or damaged by a previous frame? I see a definite rectangle all the way around, so lining wouldn't be a complete surprise.

 

Yes that indentation is definitely noticeable. It seems to go along with the wooden frame though and may have more to do with storage. I think its also gotten worse over the last few years. So I remember some more about the Karlbach gallery... It was a wealthy Long Island man's private collection. At some point this piece mustve ended up for local NJ auction and went to an estate in South Jersey where I aquired it

 

Ah, it's the current frame. Is the piece where you can get another pic of the sig area? There's a cast shadow in just the wrong spot.

 

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I really think its the back of the canvas

 

I can retake it tonight

 

For me, there's way too much shine on this corner shot to get a good read, but I think there are indications of a possible siggy somewhere in this vicinity.....I'll try on another image......

 

Nearly identical to the patch(es) where I'm seeing stuff (or think I am ).

But it's a lot of different patches to be one sig.

 

Jivvy, I wasn't thinking ONE sig....I was just pointing out where I thought I saw some letters. In the larger, less shiny image, after I lightened it, I am also seeing a "potential" location to the left.....if you, @Atlantic Jim, can get clear, light, but not shiny close-ups of those locations, it MIGHT help us!! Here's the other place, to the lower left, as well:

 

Agreed across the board!

 

Retook, let me know if these work better

 

This just looks like the same wooden stretcher bars on the back that are covered with some sort of black tape.


I do see some letters on the lower right, no way to make out a name. Odd that it "disappeared" perhaps was signed on top of the varnish and faded over time.

 

OK, three images with the best I could bring ANYTHING up....there appears to definitely be something there on both sides, but MOST promising on the RIGHT, I think....oops....best if I go back and label the images first for easy ID.......PLEASE take a minute to FOCUS on the last two images and you WILL see the two areas that I feel fairly confident there IS writing. Phew.....IF and ONLY IF you were absolutely POSITIVE it IS an OIL painting, you could VERY GENTLY try a Q-tip with spittle on it to clean a touch and see if a signature might show up.....OR take it to an art dealer or conservator to help you! Best of luck with it!!! I think it's a very interesting painting....she looks like she has the weight of the world on her shoulders while contemplating that cuppa tea!!! BTW, the MIDDLE image is the LOWER RIGHT TOO! (Forgot to label that one....it's late now!!)

 

Nah, she is concentrating to read the tea leaves or coffee grounds. She is an otherwise happy person, people come to her to have their tea leaves or coffee grounds read.

 

I believe that if there is retrievable info, it is in the area circle below (what I was "seeing" as possible other bits of writing appears to have been damage from that line of the frame).

But your image is not high enough resolution and "artifacts" of the jpg file compression algorithm are making it impossible for me to do any more.

If you could take a high resolution image and crop it to just outside the orange area below, it should not be too large for this forum (your current image doesn't come close to the 1 meg limit).