Although her origins are unknown, Rose Baron was based in Mile End in the East End of London and painted scenes and characters largely centred on the Jewish community and a traditional way of life. Her archetypal oil painting, 'Character in Petticoat Lane', shows a seated old woman holding the limp body of a duck in her lap, her head bent with concentration over her task; a pair of plucked chickens (that give the painting its alternative title) hang on a hook behind her. The workshop interior is rendered with small dabs of paint in a soft palette, juxtaposed with the woman's darkly clad figure, while flashes of colour in her hat, shawl and dirtied apron are illuminated by the shaft of light in which she sits. Without the title, the location of Petticoat Lane is not identifiable and, indeed, this Spitalfields market is usually associated with fashion and the rag (schmatte) trade. This timeless scene and the figure of the old woman herself could belong equally to portrayals of traditional Jewish life in the small Eastern-european towns (or shtetls), swept away by the Second World War.

The painting was first shown at Ben Uri Gallery in May-June 1937, when it was described by the Jewish Chronicle as 'an original conception', and subsequently donated to the Ben Uri Collection the same year. It was further exhibited under its original title at Ben Uri Gallery in a collections show in 1946.