The piece 器
In Chinese, “cat and butterfly” (mao-die) sounds exactly like the word for living to a ripe old age (耄耋) — so for centuries this playful scene has been a painted blessing: may you live long enough to watch cats chase butterflies. Ours keeps the joke tender: a striped cat flattens into its pounce, one paw lifted, eyes locked on a butterfly just out of reach, while a fruiting branch leans in from the rim and drops a few leaves into the white space.
The making 工
Painted entirely by hand in Jingdezhen — the tabby coat built from dozens of graded cobalt washes, the butterfly and leaf veins in single-breath lines — then glazed clear and fired once at high temperature. On the tea table it was born as a hucheng, a stand for the teapot; it is equally at home as a serving dish or on a wall.
Specifications
- Origin — Jingdezhen, China
- Material — high-fired porcelain
- Decoration — hand-painted underglaze cobalt, cat-and-butterfly longevity motif
- Diameter — 19 cm
- Use — teapot stand, serving dish, or display
- Care — dishwasher safe, though it prefers hands
Each cat is painted individually — every pounce lands a little differently. That is the point.
