Cat Pawing at Goldfish

Cat Pawing at Goldfish, designed by Isoda Koryusai in 1770, is a small kacho-e in which a tabby cat leans over the rim of a ceramic basin, one paw lowered toward the goldfish circling within. Koryusai had a particular affinity for cat subjects, and they recur both as standalone studies and as supporting actors in his Edo bijin-ga interiors; here the animal is treated as the protagonist, its alert pose and curiosity carrying the whole composition. The goldfish, valued in Edo as exotic ornamental fish brought from China, glow against the dark interior of the bowl in oranges and reds, while the cat's striped coat is rendered in fine keyblock lines. As bird-and-flower or animal subjects, prints like this complement Koryusai's larger production of figural ukiyo-e — including the famous Hinagata Wakana no Hatsumoyo courtesan series of the late 1770s — and demonstrate the breadth of his nishiki-e practice. The Art Institute of Chicago impression (object 21177) is a chuban colour woodblock with deep blacks for the basin, soft mustard and rose tones in the background, and the goldfish picked out in vermilion. The image's affection for the small predatory drama of a domestic cat at play with captive fish exemplifies the everyday subject matter that Edo collectors prized in nishiki-e: a brief, observed moment of urban household life translated into the disciplined visual language of the woodblock print, with Koryusai's confident graphic sense binding the cat, the basin and the wriggling goldfish into a tightly composed image. Source: Art Institute of Chicago, https://www.artic.edu/artworks/21177.