sweet ginger (cat) slumbers

copyright and by kindest permission of the artist a. cook

I'm definitely on a catnap theme so far this week!  Speaking of which, how do cats find it so restful to sleep in some of those contortions they devise?  This one clearly does:  "Taking a break: Sleeping Ginger Cat," an etching by Andrea Cook, a British artist living and working in the Netherlands.
She writes in her Etsy bio that she learned the art of origami at age four from a Japanese neighbor.  This makes a great deal of sense to me when I learn more about her art and her profession - so many things can happen depending on the angle you bring to it.  Later she studied architecture and found how much she enjoyed the artistic and technical  marriage of the discipline. Now she and her partner run Atelier 28, their studio and instruction space, in the town of Tholen.  (There is a blog to match, with looks at many more creations.)  Andrea also loves to craft her own paper from waste paper and plant pulps, which I would love to try sometime.
Andrea's work ranges from the whimsy of the circular fellow above, to delicate and incisive line portrayals such as this kitty, and bright-washed views such as this beach scene.  A gentleness and affection for her subjects seems to permeate all her work, as you'll see at her Etsy shop.  How pleasant it would be to go to Tholen and browse her atelier. There's a studio cat named Moeki, it seems!

quick post: artists with their cats

Here's a great link to 22 artists photographed with their cats - everyone from Balthus to Klee to O'Keeffe to Duchamp.  You're welcome!

speaking of catnaps: kaslkaos' sunbaked cat

Artist retains copyright, posted here with permission

This is Rambo when he was twelve pounds heavier.  I'm sure his almost fish-shaped outline came from the devoted intake of many a finned creature!  But due to a needed diet he's too skinny to rest like this now and has to settle for a side stretch.  So reports artist (and his devoted owner) Ingrid Schmelter of Kaslkaos Art and Design.  Schmelter lives in Ontario, Canada, and is a graduate of that city's College of Art.  Now she works in a number of different mediums illuminating the natural world around her - a world that includes the wonders of a "Sunbaked Cat," as she titled this print.  I love those feet: perfect curls of contentment above, stretched heat-seeking toes below.  You'll find it and lots more at her Etsy shop.  She often chooses to layer images and textures, resulting in a rich viewing experience as you look for all the elements, and her color sense is similarly deep and soothing.  Yet she whips out such character-filled work as Rambo's nap above with only black and white!  You'll see.

cat hirune

many thanks lacma. public domain

Hirune means siesta or nap in Japanese.  (At least that's what I gather from the internet. Corrections happily accepted.)  This ivory cat, carved as a netsuke in the mid to late 19th century by Kaigyokusai (1813-1892), has been napping for over a hundred years.  That's a good siesta for any kitty.
Kaigyokusai had a way of smoothing his subjects into a soothing plumpness - see this bear enjoying a honey treat, or this wild boar - and I bet the luminous finish of this netsuke comes from years of being tucked into its owner's hand.  I would have hold of it all the time if it were mine.

ewww

Nothing seems too odd or disagreeable to be regarded with affection. Lord Erskine, who always expressed  a great interest in animals, had at one time two leeches (emphasis mine and yuck! - Curator) for favourites. Taken dangerously ill at Portsmouth, he fancied that they had saved his life.  Every day he gave them fresh water and formed a friendship with them. He said he was sure that both knew  him, and were grateful for his attentions. He named them Home and Cline, for two celebrated surgeons, and he affirmed that their dispositions were quite different; in fact, he thought he distinguished individuality in these
black squirmers from the mire.

 

--from Kate Sanborn, My Literary Zoo  (New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1896) pp. 111-2.

vintage photo time: three fine specimens

thanks ampersand

April 1957: two young men full of bravado and their best dog friend stand impatiently for a snap before they swagger off to who knows what adventure.

a count counts on his dog

web gallery of art: pd-100

This portrait of Count Anton Lamberg-Sprinzenstein was painted by the Austrian artist Martin Quadal in 1784.  Quadal (1736-1808) was a popular and well-traveled classical portraitist and engraver. How he earned his popularity is evident here, but I do wish I knew the name of the dog!  That must be a springer spaniel, and he glows with a radiant love.  Rather overshadows his master if you ask me.

the king's pets: royal menagerie

The king is England's George III, and this is from a travel guide dated 1801.
***
Descriptions of the beasts, etc. now there; which have been given to his Majesty
They are confined in dens of about 13 feet high, made in two apartments: in the upper they live in the day, and sleep at night in the lower. You view them through iron grating.
1. Fanny, a lioness from Algiers, given by general Ransford; so tame, say they, that a Moor slept with her during her voyage over, and then led her to the Tower by a string only.  When she was left here, she fretted much after the Moor, refusing her food for some time. A dog being taken into her den, she fondled and made much of him; and he has been kept with her ever since. The dog is quite her master, for he will not suffer her to eat till he has begun.
2. A lion bred in the Tower, called Young Nero.
3. A handsome lioness, bred also in the Tower, called Miss Fanny, she is very fierce and ill-natur'd.
4. Two beautiful lionesses, whelped in the Tower on the first of June, 1794, named Miss Howe and Miss Fanny Howe, on account of the glorious victory obtained on that day by Lord Howe.
5. A remarkable large male elephant from Calcutta, given by the nabob of Aivot.

In the large Yard.
1. A beautiful royal tiger from China, given by secretary Nepean.
a. A handsome leopardess from, the Malabar Coast, named Dutchess, given by lord Carlisle. Her colours are remarkable bright.
3. A very curious black leopard, named Jack, given by governor Hastings. He is the only one of his colour ever seen: and though his skin is black, the spots on it appear blacker.
4. A very fierce hyena from the island of Salset near Bombay, given to the prince of Wales by Mr. Gooch, then chief mate of the Camden Indiaman.
5. Several monkies, whose antic tricks are laughable. Among them is a baboon remarkable for his sagacity, named Jumbo.
6. Two large bears.
7. A fierce but beautiful tiger cat, from the river Gambia, given by captain Gambier to the prince of Wales. The people of Malabar call it the Marapute.
8. The Coati Mundi, from Honduras, given by lady Read.
9. Two racoons; they were bred in the Tower by a male and female brought from America. These animals are said to be so cleanly, as to wash their meat before they eat it. They walk on the shore when the sea has left it, where they find certain shell-fish lying with their shells open to receive air: they prevent their closing again by putting a small stone between them; by which means they are enabled to take the fish out for food.
10. The jackall, or lion's provider. This animal is full as cleanly as the racoon, in respect of washing his food before he eats it.
11. An eagle of the sun, given to his late majesty by admiral Boscawen, who took it in a French prize.
12. A wolf.

-- from A Companion to All the Principal Places of Curiosity and Entertainment in and about London and Westminster, J. Drew, 1801, pp. 17-19.

two tiny beauties by titian

thanks wikimedia commons (PD-old-100)

Little Clarissa comes from the Strozzis, one of Florence's greatest families. She's surrounded by the finest things, and has plenty of baby-size jewels to wear for her portrait.  What she really likes, though, is her dog, a gentle fellow who in a way looks a great deal like her.  This is "Portrait of Clarissa Strozzi," an oil on canvas from 1542 that shows us a sweet side of the Venetian painter Titian.

the dog is in the details (the cat, too)

I've found a treasurebox of images of the tiny sketches in medieval illuminated manuscript margins. Often called "drolleries" or "grotesques," they are full of fantasy, humor and earthiness.  Since the main illustrations generally concern the sacred or the noble, it's as though all the rest of life spilled out to surround them.  As it does.  The site is Discarding Images.  Here's some of the treats to be found:
A cat playing the hurdy-gurdy (be sure and check the link to the "much cuter cat"
And a cat playing the bagpipes
A hare family under the most beautiful sky
A dinky little dog
another dinky dog in a tree
A cross-eyed winged cat

You'll see so much more at this excellent site. Enjoy.

"the dog...must be made happy in his mind"

From a book of improving thoughts upon the various animals, written by Caroline Bray and published in 1871:

* * *

The dog is of too fine a nature to be content with being fed and sheltered and combed and brushed. He must be made happy in his mind. For there is no doubt the dog has in some degree a mind and a conscience, as well as a loving disposition. He knows when he has done wrong, and slinks away with his tail between his legs, from shame, and not always from only the fear of a beating; and when he has done right he wags his tail and comes boldly capering up for the reward of only a caress or look of approval. He sees by his master's eye in a moment if he is pleased or angry with him, and cannot bear even to be laughed at. And even if he has been unjustly punished he bears no malice, but licks the hand that cruelly struck him, and is grateful for being again taken into favour.
We ought to be very careful, therefore, not to be unjust to a dog. While we make him feel that he has a master and that he must obey, we must take great care not to be harsh with our dog when he is not conscious of having done wrong, but has perhaps only been following some of his natural instincts.
We have often too much reason to blush before the honest creature who looks up in our face with such trust and reverence, as if we were something to be worshipped. We may well ask ourselves, Do we merit his worship? is our nature so true and guileless as his? are we so ready to forgive injuries, or so faithful in doing our duty?

 - Our Duty to Animals, Caroline Bray (London: S.W. Partridge & Co., 1871), pp. 109-10.  Caroline Bray, also known as Cara, was a close friend of George Eliot's.

beribboned hair, bemused cat

thanks wikimedia commons {PD:old}

Here's a portrait by Johann Eberhard Ihle (German: 1727-1814), one of Nuremberg's premier portrait painters, with a curious and likable pair.  This is "Ritratto Di Dama In Abito Color Rosa Con Nastri Azzurri Che Nutre Un Gattino," that is, Portrait of a Lady In a Pink Dress With Blue Ribbons Feeding a Kitten.

vintage photo time: does that dog have a license?

thanks ampersand

You've got to look carefully at this one!

collectors weekly with cat-people collectibles

An article today over at Collectors Weekly has a delightful lineup of some of the more unusual kitty thingies on eBay right about now.  A cat in a hat stumping for women's voting rights? Check.  Vacant-eyed catface buttons? Got them.  Crazy-eyed rhinestone kitty ring? Yes.  Go look!

chatte et chaton (cat and kitten)

thanks wikimedia commons (PD:old)

Be sure to get a good look at the monkey-like, soft baby face of the white kitten in this 1737 painting by the French Rococo painter Jean-Baptiste Oudry.  Oudry became a professor at France's Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture; painted hunting scenes for King Louis XV, and turned down work from the King of Denmark and Czar Peter the Great.  For such a grand series of accomplishments, Oudry had a way with humbler creatures, and here's the proof.  "Cat and Kitten" shows us not only perfectly rendered cat fur - two little black eyebrows on Kitten! - but a look of pride and pleasure on the mother cat's face.  For me, the Rococo styling shows in the delicate and sinuous yet lush flower to the left.

in ancient china: reading a dog's coat

From a 1921 book on the culture and history of dogs in China and Japan:

***
The ancient "Book of the Five Elements," rather more exacting in its requirements, proves that dogs of various colours existed in early times in China, as in Assyria:
" Should a man breed :
" A black dog with white ears, he shall become rich and noble.
" A white dog with a yellow head, his family will become prosperous.
"A yellow dog with white tail, his family shall have officials in it in every generation.
" A black dog with white fore-legs, many male children will be born to the family.
" A yellow dog with white fore-legs, he will have good luck.
" The breeding of a white dog with a black head is lucky, and will bring a man riches.
"A white dog with a black tail will cause the family through all generations to ride in chariots." (Only families that had officials among their members could ride in chariots - Curator)

From V.W.F. Collier, Dogs of China & Japan in Nature and Art (New York: Stokes, 1921), pp. 48-49

"tragedy" - a dog limerick

Not a tragedy at all.  Have you ever read a sad limerick?

A high bred young puppy from Skye
Searched long and in vain for his eye,
For his mistress with care
Had combed his long hair
O'er the place where these orbs ought to lie.

 -- Anonymous, from Songs of Dogs, Robert Frothingham, ed. (Houghton Mifflin, 1920) p. 115.

a hare, from paintmydog.uk



image copyright and by kindest permission of justine osborne, artist

It's been quite a while since we looked in on Justine Osborne and her work at paintmydog.uk.  Justine's work focuses on finding the spark that belongs to each individual dog, and creating the portrait to match.  As her bio says in part,
"I enjoy the colours of dogs, their shape, their intensity of expression.  Cross-breed or pure bred, every dog has its own challenges. Working with the owners allows for an insight into each dog's personality and the great effect they have on our lives. An irreplaceable bond occurs between owner and dog, and I always feel privileged to create images that represent such special relationships."
So I'm as surprised as you are that I chose her painting of a hare.
Her dogs continue to enchant - in fact I almost chose a weimaraner - but I found the wise wary eyes of this fellow so arresting that I wanted you all to see him too.  Get a good look at Justine's dog portraits at her Etsy shop and on Facebook.

dogs, applied by moser

thanks wikipaintings.org (public domain)

Four dogs: Nero, Phylax, Pluto and Schakl.  They may well be actual pets, as this is a page from a picture book created in 1904 for the artist's niece. The artist is none other than the marvelous Viennese graphic artist  Koloman Moser (1868-1918).  Here Moser has cut out dogs from a marbled paper that makes a fine imitation of fur, and the subtle differences between the dogs' postures makes you wonder what they see just off the page.  Would you like to see some more of the book?  The blog 50watts.com has quite a bit of it here, starting with "Eight Happy Squirrels."

a turkish fable: the converted cat

The Cat, having put on the cowl and become a monk, sent word to the mice and said :
"It is an abominable thing to shed blood. As for me, I will shed no more, for I am become religious."
Then the mice replied :
"Although we saw in you the whole Order of St. Anthony, or of our holy Father St. Mark, we could have no confidence in your hypocrisy."
The Cat covered herself with a dust rag, and smeared herself with flour. The mice approached her, saying:
"Wretch, we see through your dust rag!"
Then she pretended to be dead, and lay in the path of the mice, who approached her and said :
''Miserable cheat, although your skin be made into a purse, we could not believe that you had given up your habitual knavery."
This fable shows that when you have once found out a person of dishonest, treacherous, and evil character, you should not trust him, even if he tries to do right, for he cannot change his nature.

-- I personally feel that's too harsh a judgement, but it's an entertaining find. From Turkish Literature; comprising fables, belles-lettres and sacred traditions (New York: The Colonial Press, 1901), pp.20-21.

friday night miscellaneous

From new friends and old, some interesting doings outside the usual Pet Museum type posts...

New friends FeedTheBreed have cool tshirts and stuff that fund feeding hungry dogs.  Special mention of greyhounds and pitties.

Did you see Susan Faye's awesome Kickstarter for producing her line of snazzy OhRats?  I gave $5!

Winedoggies sound like good folks and a great excuse to bring the dog to your Yakima Valley wine trip.

I followed Woodstock on Twitter.  (I mean, where else would he be?)  I couldn't help it - he's my favorite Peanuts character.

Kunstdog does hilarious dog portraits.

Not pet related, but I do like the idea of chainmail. Elizabeth would be so pretty in a copper chainmail collar. (Never gonna happen.)

Did you see this gorgeous photoessay of Southern porch dogs from Garden&Gun magazine?

**Late breaking addition** Who's got better delivery of a Shakespearean insult than a cat? Nobody.

Time to grab some cats and go to sleep.  See you tomorrow, friends.

vintage photo time, tgif edition: got a lap?

thanks ampersand

Like I said.

TGIF.

two innocents: dog and girl, karl bryullov

thanks wikimedia commons {PD-old-100}

In a dense wood where the sunlight makes its way through as best it can, a delicate, intense girl stands.  She holds her dog, a creature equally delicate yet thorough in its regard.  Did she really need that heavy cape?  She has it balanced on a shoulder as if about to throw it back and run.  As though all she needed from then on was her dog and her own will.  This is a portrait of U. M. Smirnova painted sometime in the years 1837-1840 by Karl Bryullov, the Russian history and portrait painter.  I don't know any more about the enchanting and determined pair here, but I wish I did.

catspeak

I've never heard the girls use too many of these other than the first and last examples, but here's a list of some common kitty language according to a comparative psychologist in the 20's.

* * *

I shall quote a few of these words (in the language of cats - Curator) for the benefit of those individuals who may be moved to communicate with their pets in this fashion.
"Purr-r-r-r-r-r-rieu" means "happy," "mieouw"with a strong emphasis on the first syllable "be-ware," "aelio" is "food" and "alieeo" is water, "par-rierre" is uttered in front of the door and means "open," the numbers begin "aim, hi, zali," "leo" is the head, "tut" the tail," "oolie" the fur, "ptter-bl" is mince-meat and "bleeml-bl" cooked meat. The sentence "mie-ouw, vow, vow, teiow you tiow, wow yow, ts-s-s s-syw," is a mixture of defiance and a curse and much resembles "bold, bad swearing."
Many cats who do not aspire to the gift of language are famous, not because their own behaviour was in any way unique, but because their masters, men of talent, interpreted it so delicately and charmingly.

-- from The modern cat: her mind & manners : an introduction to comparative psychology, by Georgina Stickland Gates (New York: Macmillan, 1928) p.17.

vintage photo time: he's outta here!

thanks ampersand

Early summer 1968:  I don't care what the suits are doing, man, I'm a free little dog and I'm takin' off.

a rhyme for st jerome's cat

thanks wikimedia commons {PD}

(Image: Saint Jerome, miniature by the Meister des Maréchal de Boucicaut, 1410-1415) Yesterday I posted on Saint Jerome's pet lion.  Some variants of the Jerome legends have him owning a regular cat as well, and there's an English nursery rhyme of unknown provenance that muses ...

St. Jerome in his study kept a great big cat,

it's always in his pictures, with its feet upon the mat.

Did he give it milk to drink, in a little dish?

When it came to Fridays, did he give it fish?

If I lost my little cat, I'd be sad without it;

I should ask St. Jerome what to do about it.

I should ask St. Jerome, just because of that,

for he's the only saint I know who kept a kitty cat.

a cat big and tender: st jerome's lion

thanks wikimedia commons {PD}

This is Pietro Perugino's San Girolamo Penitente (Penitent Saint Jerome) of circa 1473.  At first I thought, what a delicate, contemplative piece, and then I was struck by two things:
 - Jerome is beating himself upon the chest with a rock; those are drops of blood on his chest, as bright as rubies.  This isn't a rare occurrence by any means in tales of the saints; in fact it's mild compared to some of the self-mortifications holy folk would undergo.
 - His faithful pet lion, constant companion since Jerome drew a thorn from its paw, peeking out with such sweetness.  Here's a detail.

I think this big cat is sad that his beloved master is doing this to himself when he showed such love to even a scary wounded lion. Part of the whole Jerome/lion story - too long to really talk about, but you can read it here - speaks of the lion's being so grateful for help that he humbled himself to do daily chores for Jerome.  So there's the theme of pride being brought down, as Jerome would try to do within himself.  It was also thought that the lion could sleep with its eyes open and so stood for eternal vigilance.  Too bad he couldn't speak to Jerome. I would like to know what he would have said.

little cat feet

remember this? - elizabeth's feet

Today I'm going to send you over to Beachcombing's Bizarre History Blog, where I found this post on Feline Paws through History.
Thrill to the sight of kitty footprints from a Roman fort in the north of Britain!
Sigh at the marvel of little toebeans pressed into clay in India 3000 years ago!
Follow the link in the post (look carefully) to visit another blog's post on a medieval manuscript marked with cat pee.  Come on, you know you want to.

I found some other archaeological catprints here.

And I threw this one in just because it's beautiful.

the dog that mourned a king

"MAY 21, 1910"
"Beasts can neither feel nor suffer;"
So said Descartes long ago—
And the angels of dumb creatures
Wept that men should judge them so.
For they knew what depths of feeling
Through the dumb creation ran;
Yea, that beasts have died for sorrow,
Even for misjudging man.
Yesterday mankind repented:
Now for joy the angels sing;
For a dog was led as mourner
At the funeral of a King.

-- The poet, Annie Ashley, was writing about King Edward VII's wire fox terrier Caesar, who did indeed walk as chief mourner in his master's funeral procession.  Poem found in The Friendly Dog: an Anthology, J. Parson, ed.(London, K. Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., 1912), p. 63.

vintage photo time: with bonus cathance

i actually don't remember where i got this

Who knows when or where this was taken, or why the men are so very separate from the womenfolk huddling in a knot by the door.  I bought this snap for the curious feel of it as well as the dog.  And then I realized. . . 

(cat-hanced for visibility)

. . . there were two pets in the photo.

fifty "do's" for dogs

From an encyclopedia of the dog dated 1925 (and do allow for some obsolescence here!):

DO'S, FIFTY, CONCERNING DOGS
— Be kind to all animals.
Provide clean and sanitary bedding for the dog.
Allow sunshine.
Furnish a. comfortable bed.
Provide cool and fresh drinking water at all times.
Feed the proper food.
Feed regularly.
Allow sufficient exercise.
Give raw chopped beef two times daily, for it is the dog's best natural diet.
Provide milk to drink between meals. (I think this is a "no" now. --  curator)
Always furnish a large bone for him to chew on.
Make a pal of your dog.
Bathe the dog occasionally to prevent the customary dog odor.
Comb the hair after bathing.
Watch the dog for symptoms of sickness.
Keep the nails trimmed.
Bathe the toes after exercising.
Remove all foreign bodies from between the toes.
Keep the dog free from fleas.
Allow a shady spot in warm weather in which to lie.
Clip long-haired dogs in the summer.
Train the dog for the leash.
Provide professional treatment for sick animals.
Furnish comfortable and sanitary crates for dogs traveling distances.
Brush the teeth once a week.
Make provision for food and water for animals traveling in crates.
Use non-irritating soaps for the dog's bath.
See that the coat is rinsed thoroughly after bathing.
Train the dog to obey.
Use kindness in training.
Allow the dog the companionship of children.
Train the dog to obey one master only.
Care for the dog's teeth.
Take the dog for long walks.
Teach the dog a few tricks.
Train your dog to pose for the ring.
Enter the dog in a show, even though you may think that he has little chance of winning.
Allow him to go swimming in the summer time.
House break (train) the dog early.
Bathe the eyes frequently, especially after returning from a ride.
Watch the bowel movements for symptoms of sickness.
Train the dog to guard your property.
Keep the dog out of draughts.
Worm the dog at least three times a year.
Allow eggs once a week in place of the meat.
Choose a good home for your dog in the summer while you are on your vacation.
Purchase the yearly dog license early in the spring.
Fasten this tag securely to the collar.
If necessary provide a wire muzzle for the dog. (Hmm - I don't think I like that one - curator)
Provide warm clothing for the dog while outdoor in the winter time.

-- From William Lewis Judy, The dog encyclopedia, a complete reference work on dogs (Chicago: Judy Publishing Company, 1925), pp. 63-4.  There's a list of fifty don'ts, too.

more on the old welsh valuation of cats

Hoel Dha, or Howell the Good, established a detailed legal code for the Welsh nation during his rule in the 10th century AD.  This is the part everyone remembers:
"The worth of a cat that is killed or stolen. Its head is to be put downward upon a clean even floor, with its tail lifted upwards, and thus suspended, whilst wheat is poured about it until the tip of its tail be covered, and that is to be its worth."
There's more detail to that cat valuation in later versions of the code, such as this pungent note:

In "The Gwentian Code," chap. XX., the value of a cat is increased since the former edicts. After relating the mode of calculating the value of the king's cat, by holding it by the tail and covering it with wheat, it says, as to the cat's qualities:
"3rd. That it be perfect of ear, perfect of eye, perfect of teeth, perfect of tail, perfect of claw, and without marks of fire."
If a cat was found faulty in any one of those particulars, a third of her price was to be refunded to the purchaser. There were two reasons for the condition with respect to fire, for cats which lie much by the fire side are generally lazy and bad mousers, and also if they have been singed at all the rats would be sure to discover them by the smell.

This is found on pages 33-4 of (honest, the whole book title)  The Model Merchant of the Middle Ages: Exemplified in the Story of Whittington and His Cat: Being an Attempt to Rescue that Interesting Story from the Region of Fable, and to Place it in Its Proper Position in the Legitimate History of this Country, by Samuel Lysons (Hamilton, Adams, 1860).