cat nursing kittens, 1720

www.loc.gov, FP 2 - JPD, no. 2048, no known restrictions on publication

Here's a woodcut from 1720 by the Japanese artist Tachibana Morikuni.  Though the record at the Library of Congress didn't say, this is probably on mulberry paper. After almost 300 years it's gotten extremely fragile.  Yet the image of a proud momcat with a couple of kittens, one of them on a hump-backed pounce setting for Mom's enticing tail, is as natural and fresh as anything you might make today.  Don't you love how that feisty one in back is primarily built out of stripes?