of the catte

images courtesy of the wellcome library, CC BY 4.0

Laurence Andrew (active c. 1510-1537) provided this illustration "Of the Catte" in his book The noble lyfe & natures of man, of bestes, serpentys, fowles & fisshes yt be moste knowen.  (Want to see the whole book?  It's here.  The poet Algernon Swinburne apparently owned this very copy.) If he actually had a cat, it must have been one of those that likes water, because this is not at all the usual illustration of the sort of Catte you and I know and feed.