CHINA, QING DYNASTY, KANGXI PERIOD (1662-1722)

The present lot bears close comparison to a Louis XV ormolu-mounted Chinese turquoise-glazed cat of similar proportions from the celebrated collection of Madame de Pompadour (1721-1764), mistress of French King Louis XV, illustrated by C. Huchet de Quénetain & G. Séret in Colnaghi Studies Journal, no.4, Reflections on a Chinese porcelain cat, once in the Collection of Madame de Pompadour, March 2019, pp. 97-112. This well-documented cat is known to have been in the collection of Madame de Pompadour from as early as 15th April 1764 when it is described in the inventory of her Parisian house as a ‘cat of antique violet porcelain on a base of gilt bronze valued at two hundred livres’.
The result of Oxford thermoluminescence test no. P122j87 is consistent with the dating of this lot.