The pig and the cat

Gräflich Thun'sche Porzellanfabrik Klösterle, Bohemia, based on prints by J. J. Grandville, after 1850

Glazed and painted white porcelain.

H: 9 cm

Markings: TK imprint on the bottom

UMP 11507

Purchased for the museum in 1932.

This whimsical sculpture is based on a drawing by French artist J. J. Grandville in his work Les Métamorphoses du Jour (1828–1829), which depicts witty scenes from the day-to-day life of bizarrely anthropomorphised animals. Grandville’s illustrations are remarkable for the exceptional skill with which he analogised humans to animals to capture individual characters and the negative aspects of human society. He is also well known for his courageous caricatures printed in the Parisian magazine La Caricature before censorship was imposed in 1835, in which he used similar principles.

J. J. Grandville: Les Métamorphoses du Jour. (book cover), Gustave Havard, 1854

Colored lithograph, 27 x 17cm, J. J. Grandville: Les Métamorphoses du Jour. Garnier Fréres, Paris 1869