The Blue Lady is based on a 1950 painting by Vladimir Tretchikoff. It became one of the world's most popular paintings when made into a print in the 1960s and 1970s. The painting was of an unknown Chinese girl and was best known for the unusual skin tone used for her face (a blue-green color). Recently, the model for Tretchikoff's painting was found to be a then 17-year-old Monika Sing-Lee (now Monika Pon), who was then a single girl working in her uncle's laundry in Cape Town.
This mug was released for Modernism Week 2022, in Palm Springs, at The Reef. Later that day, sold through the Eekum Bookum website.