smile kitty

Conrad of Megenberg, ‘Buch der Natur’, Germany ca. 1434.  Strasbourg, Bibliothèque nationale et universitaire, Ms.2.264, fol. 85r. 

This is an illustration from an early 15th century copy of Conrad of Megenburg's Buch der Natur (Book of Nature), the first volume on natural history in the German language.  Where, precisely, this crazy-eyed feline pops up in the manuscript is not known to me, but he sure livens up a page.