Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901 )The Seated Clown (Mademoiselle Ch-U-Ka-O). (Pl. of the suite Elles). 1896. Lithograph. [401 x 522]. Delteil 180; Wittrock 156. Printed in colors. A very fine proof on thin white vellum watermarked "g. pellet / t. lautrec", printed in full sheet, annotated in pen and sepia ink by the publisher Pellet "Série n° 19", initialed then stamped by him (Lugt 1190). Small accidents in the lower corners, formerly restored on the reverse. Soft horizontal median fold in the upper third of the leaf on the right, reaching the face. Small russet spots at the right edge above the model's foot. Edition of 100 prints. "A dancer and clown at the Nouveau Cirque and the Moulin Rouge, Cha-U-Kao owes her Japanese-sounding stage name to the phonetic transcription of the French words "chahut" (an acrobatic dance derived from the cancan) and "chaos" that her entrance into the stage provoked. Like La Goulue, Cha-U-Kao is a recurring figure in the painter's work, and belongs to the world of Parisian entertainment at the end of the 19th century. Her profession as a clown and sometimes even as an acrobat, however, links her more to the circus tradition, which also fascinated the painter, than to that of the cabarets." (www.musee-orsay.fr).