AN AUBERGINE-GLAZED 'CAT' NIGHT LIGHT QING DYNASTY, KANGXI PERIOD

modelled in the form of a recumbent cat, the eyes pierced and the back with an ogee opening, on a shaped base with a pierced rectangular band, covered in an even aubergine glaze

The cat is traditionally an auspicious animal in China. The word for cat in Chinese mao is homophonous with the word for the ripe age between eighty and ninety (mao), making the cat a symbol of longevity. Cat-form vessels were therefore much favoured although night lights, such as the present piece, appear to be rare. The aubergine glaze of this piece is strikingly deep and is characteristic of Kangxi period glazes of this colouration. For an example of a Kangxi vessel in similar aubergine glaze see a stool published in Kangxi Porcelain Wares from the Shanghai Museum Collection, Hong Kong, 1998, pl. 247, together with a brushpot covered in a deep purple glaze, pl. 246.