Purrquoise Cat Glass Ornament

$30.00 at The Getty Museum.

The sculpture reproduction of a cat, fondly known as Purrquoise, that inspired this ornament is made of Chinese porcelain. Glazed in a luminous turquoise, a hole on the lower part of the spine suggests that the cat originally served as an incense burner. Created for export to Europe, the cat was adorned in mid-eighteenth-century France with eyes in enameled glass and mounted on a gilt bronze stool with a richly ornamented cushion. These transformed pieces were highly desirable by the most discerning…