Chinese cloisonné cat

I have been meaning (for some time) to ask if anyone here might be able to provide any info about my cloisonné cat. (For those who used to - or perhaps still do - hang out on the old eBay boards, I posted her there some 7 years ago, but I never got much of an answer about her...)

A very good friend purchased her for me in China quite a long time ago. She was supposed to be "old" at that point, but I really have no idea about her true age.

She measures a bit over 10" tall and about 10" across at the widest point, and she weighs about 6 1/2 pounds. I have found no markings on her.

Thanks to an over-zealous cleaning person & her vacuum, the poor kitty has a couple of small dings in her enamel. (Just for the record, I have always kept the cat on a wooden stand, but she & her stand no longer sit on the floor.)

Anyway, here she is:


This is the bottom:


Here is her face:


This is one of her front paws:


And this is the bottom of her other front paw:

Does anyone have any input?

Thanks so much!
-C-

 

She is lovely. I like the lifelike way she is about to react to attention from her human.
"Old" can mean many things in China. To the Chinese themselves it often means at least Song dynasty. But the Chinese who cater to the Western market know that we not only have a different notion of old, but we love old, so they call things old as a selling point.
This looks like a Persian kitty, it was made for Western taste, probably 1960s-70s. She has a lot of cousins, but most of them are smaller than yours. Here is a cute little Siamese one (do look at the fourth photo as well):
https://www.etsy.com/listing/468987..._search_query=cloisonne+cat&ref=sr_gallery_13

 

That is cute overload! Made this grumpy old cuss smile early in the morning!

 

Always happy to brighten your day.

 

She looks a bit sad that that over zealous cleaning lady dinged her lovely fur!!!!! That being said, I think she is absolutely IS lovely!!!! Just out of curiosity, why do you call her (looks like a 'she' to me!) cloisonné?? From what I understand, Chinese Cloisonné is the technique of creating designs on metal vessels with colored-glass paste placed within enclosures made of copper or bronze wires, which have been bent or hammered into the desired pattern. Do you see any of that on your cat or am I WAAAY off base.......which is an entire possibility!!!! Doesn't take the fact away from her that she is WONDERFUL!!!!! How long ago is "a long time ago"???

EDIT: So, after reading Any J's link, I see they are also calling that cat Cloisonné......did they REALLY do ALL THOSE FUR LINES IN metal, or am I missing something in interpretation????? I may need educating here!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

All those thin dark lines are bronze, you can see it better in the detail picture of the paw.

 

PHEW!!!!! REMIND ME NEVER to take up Cloisonné work I just wasn't really believing those lines in those cats were really the metal work!!!!!!!

 

She should be worth a pretty penny then!!!! IF you were to sell

 

SBSVC.....is it just me or does this cat....and your avatar...look related ...

 

Ha Ha!!!!! It's the POSE!!!!!!!!!!

 

Thank you, one and all, for all of your helpful comments! I am very attached to this yellow kitty, so I appreciate that others like her, too! (And, yes, I do believe she is female!)

AJ, your comments are always welcome! I happen to have one just like the "cute little Siamese one" in your Etsy link. To be perfectly honest, it's been in my "sell" pile for ages (not that I've done any selling for years - but I still have a sell pile!)

The Siamese one was given to me by a (different) friend who saw the big yellow one and assumed I'd like another, but I really never cared much for it. Compared to "big yellow", the smaller one is simply rather blah. (Sorry, little Siamese kitty...) "Big yellow" has a real presence, if you know what I mean!

Aquitaine, you asked, How long ago is "a long time ago"? Well, it was definitely in the 1980's, and I was living in the DC area at the time. My best friend went to China with a DC business group (including a number of antiques dealers) just as trade was really beginning to "open up" again. One of the antiques dealers actually brought the piece into the country for him.

Komo, when you said, Is it just me or does this cat....and your avatar...look related? I had to smile! Joseph, in my avatar, considers himself a very MANLY cat (!) and he actually likes to sit next to "big yellow" on the lower shelf of the hall table in my foyer. It sometimes looks as if he's "interested" in her... While he's about double her weight, they look to be about the same size!

Anyway, I'd like to thank everyone again for commenting - it is much appreciated!

 

Lovely kitties, all!

 

I have some large vases on stands in corners of the living room/sitting room that I move onto the porch when the cleaners are coming. I found a nice chunk gone out of one the first time they cleaned. Talking to them doesn't help because they rotate new ones every other week and they are all non-English speakers. They do a fabulous job, but are a bit rough sometimes.

 

I have had some very nice and valuable things ruined by cleaners who spoke my language. I always showed them where not to clean, I will do the delicate stuff, but most got into a cleaning frenzy and just wouldn't listen.
One even said that she just went on with her job because I had braindamage and therefore(?) wasn't able to judge the situation. She did explain to me how to dust. I still wonder which one of us had more functioning braincells.
After a while all that, plus the fact that having someone in the house for a couple of hours that you have to serve coffee to and keep an eye on, was getting too much for us. After the organisation changed the rules for the umpteenth time, we decided to leave it all for what it was and just live in a dusty house.

 

My best friend doesnt call it dust,he says everything is "frosted" !