Kitten, anonymous, Sung dynasty, Album. The National Palace Museum, Taiwan.

A white cat with patches of gray and brown looks back. The artist used washes of light gray to render parts of the cat's head, ears, face, back, tail, and hind legs. Specks of white are scattered across the face and limbs, and dark ink was employed to render the patterns on the body. The pupils of the cat's eyes were done with three shades of ink (light, medium, and dark) to suggest the shifting reflections and sparkle. The realistic rendering with fine brushwork makes the distinctions in the fur very clear, and the paw on the ground shaped like a plum blossom also looks very soft and cute. It is said that Princess Ch'iung-hua of the Later T'ang also had such a cat with dappled coloring in its mouth area, making it look like a piebald steed with a bit in its mouth, which is why she named it “bridle cicada cat”. For this reason, later poets often alluded to cats as “bridle cicadas”.