A RARE BLUE AND WHITE 'CAT' NIGHT LIGHT Chongzhen The crouching feline naturalistically modelled with the head lowered above the tucked in forepaws, with ears pricked and eyes wide in alert readiness, with pierced openings for the release of light, the tail tucked neatly around the body and resting against the left cheek, the top with a heart-shaped opening, painted overall with light blue dashes to simulate fur. 17cm (6 5/8in) long. Footnotes: Please note this Lot is to be sold at No Reserve. 本拍品不設底價 明崇禎 青花貓形夜燈 Provenance: acquired from R & G McPherson Antiques, London, June 2006 (collector's notes) Published, Illustrated and Exhibited: M.White, Beasts at the Whites' House: A selection of ceramics from the Whites' House collection, vol.1, n.p, 2020, p.14 (Published and Illustrated) The Oriental Ceramic Society, China Without Dragons: Rare Pieces from Oriental Ceramic Society Members, London, 2016, p.226, no.135 來源：獲得于倫敦古董商R & G McPherson Antiques，2006年6月（藏家筆記） 展覽著錄：M.White，《Beasts at the Whites' House: A selection of ceramics from the Whites' House collection》，第1冊，無出版地，2020年，第14頁（著錄） 東方陶瓷學會，《龍隱：東方陶瓷學會會員稀珍藏品展》，倫敦，2016年，第226頁，編號135 Hollow ceramic figures in the form of cats, pierced at the eyes and typically made without a base, are recorded in early eighteenth-century European accounts of Chinese domestic life. In a letter of 1712, the Jesuit missionary Père d'Entrecolles describes such objects being used as night lights, with a small lamp placed inside so that the flame illuminated the eyes, a device believed to deter mice after dark. Examples of this type are well known from the so-called 'Hatcher' shipwreck, a cargo recovered in 1983 from a vessel thought to have sunk between 1643 and 1646, which included several porcelain cat-shaped night lights. The tradition may extend slightly earlier, as suggested by a green-glazed stoneware vessel in the form of a crouching cat, with base and tall neck, donated to the Ardabil Shrine in Iran in 1611. See J.Alexander Pope, Chinese Porcelains from the Ardabil Shrine, Washington, DC, 1956, pl.120. The form and material of the present example, however, are consistent with production in the mid-17th century. See for example, a cat-shaped night light from the Hatcher shipwreck, illustrated by J.Harrison-Hall, Ming Ceramics in the British Museum, London, 2001, pl.12.91. See a related brown-enamelled recumbent 'cat' night light, Kangxi, which was sold at Bonhams London, 2 November 2023, lot 189. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing