AMERICAN SCHOOL (19TH CENTURY) FOLK ART PORTRAIT OF A CAT, oil on canvas, a fine example of striking design and coloration, the engaging subject sporting a red collar with a brass bell, seated on a patterned rug with green pleated curtain-like device in the background, no signature located, on likely original stretcher. Housed in a 19th-century molded walnut frame with gilt liner. Fourth quarter 19th century. 19 3/4" x 13 3/4" sight, 24" x 18" OA.
Provenance: From an East Coast private collection.
Reportedly ex-collection of Vladimir Samoylovich Horowitz and Wanda Toscanini Horowitz.
Catalogue Note: The present portrait of a cat is an exceptional example of 19th-century American folk art animal portraiture. Depicting an expressive subject against a richly colored elemental background of linear design and flattened perspective, the present work in many ways prefigures a more modern aesthetic.

Very good overall visual condition with two very minor repairs with associated inpainting to background, old wax lining. Frame with minor wear.