THE CAT’S WHISKERS! An 18th century English delft dish painted with a spotted cat playing the fiddle sold at Woolley and Wallis in Salisbury, United Kingdom for £32,000 on 28 February.
News-Antique.com - Nov 30,-0001 - An 18th century English delft dish painted with a spotted cat playing the fiddle sold at Woolley and Wallis in Salisbury, United Kingdom for £32,000 on 28 February.
The 14in plate dating from circa 1740 depicted a cat standing on two legs playing the fiddle with four dancing mice. The plate pre dates the nursery rhyme Hey Diddle Diddle which was first heard in 1756 but The Cat and the Fiddle has been part of popular culture since the Tudor period with a public house of that name in the city of London noted in 1501. Another plate in the series painted with a heron holding a fish in its beak also sold in the auction for £10,000.
Although the market for English delft has fallen somewhat since the late 1990s, this is an indication that rarity still commands high prices in today’s market.
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