The Chinese reproduce cats in their ceramics in white, turquoise blue,
and old violet. One that once belonged to Madame de Mazarin sold for
eight hundred livres. In Japan, cats are reproduced in common ware,
daubed with paint, but the Chinese make them of finer ware, enamelling
the commoner kinds of porcelain and using the cat in conventional forms
as flower-vases and lamps.
CHAPTER XIII
CONCERNING VARIETIES OF CATS
Few people realize how many kinds of cats there are. The fashionable
world begins to discuss cats technically and understand their various
points of excellence. The "lord mayor's chain," the "Dutch rabbit
markings," and similar features are understood by more cat fanciers than
a few years ago; but, until within that time, it is doubtful if the
number of people who knew the difference between the Angora and the
Persian in this country amounted to a hundred. It is but a few years
since the craze for the Angora cat started. These cats have been
fashionable pets in England for some years back, and now America begins
to understand their value and the principles of breeding them. Today,
there are as handsome, well-bred animals in the United States as can be
found abroad. The demand for high-bred animals with a pedigree is
greatly increasing, and society people are beginning to understand the
fine points of the thoroughbred.
The Angora cat, as its name indicates, comes from Angora in Western
Asia, the province that is celebrated for its goats with long hair of
fine quality.
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