This delightful and rare porcelain cat is a striking example of Chinese export art made for the Western market in the mid eighteenth century. Finely modelled and richly enamelled in a palette of ochre, chocolate brown, and cream, the seated feline is captured with remarkable charm and naturalism. Its tail curls neatly around the body, while the head is slightly turned, lending the figure an inquisitive and lifelike expression.

While Chinese export animal figures from the Qianlong period are celebrated for their vitality and whimsy, cats are among the rarest subjects produced. Dogs, birds, and mythical creatures appear with far greater frequency, whereas cats, particularly those as sensitively modelled and vividly decorated as the present example, are extraordinarily unusual and seldom encountered on the market. The figure reflects not only the technical brilliance of the potters at Jingdezhen, but also a refined understanding of Western taste and the eighteenth century European fascination with exotic animals rendered in porcelain.

The word for cat (mao) is a homonym for “eighty” in Chinese, and the animal therefore functions as a symbol of longevity. For this reason, figures of cats were sometimes given as presents to mark an eightieth birthday.

Cats were also believed to possess keen eyesight that allowed them to see spirits in the dark. The presence of a living cat within the household, however, could be interpreted negatively, as it suggested an infestation of rodents that might eat or spoil the family’s grain and thus presage poverty. By contrast, a sculptural or two dimensional representation of a cat was thought capable of averting such misfortune.

Porcelain figures of cats for both domestic and export markets appear in China by the seventeenth century, notably in the form of night lights, a type much remarked upon by Western visitors. Dehua figures of cats are recorded in the Dresden collection as early as 1721, listed as “N56, 7 cats sitting on plinths. H 1½ inches.” Two further cats, possibly similar to the present example and its companion, appeared in the 1783 sale of Monsieur Blondel’s estate, where they were described as being of Chinese origin.

Cat figures were also produced at Meissen in the 1740s by J. J. Kändler. Their manufacture, however, was greatly overshadowed by Meissen’s extensive production of porcelain dogs in a wide variety of breeds. The records of the marchand mercier Lazare Duvaux show that he purchased no Meissen cats after December 1750. This apparent decline in elite demand may coincide with the increasing popularity of cat figures in the broader market, alongside the proliferation of more affordable earthenware versions. Numerous seated cats, often closely comparable in pose to the Chinese examples, continued to circulate widely thereafter.