Kamisaka Sekka - Puppies (Enokoro), 1909-1910

Yan Bolong (Chinese, 1898–1954), "Precious Bird among Red Leaves" (detail), 1936

For #InternationalBatAppreciationDay 🦇:

Art Inspiring Science: The Moche Bat

“The CMA’s bat vessel has traits of the species Dr. Velazco studied. Made on Peru’s north coast by an artist of the ancient Moche or Mochica culture (moe-chay, moe-cheek-ah) (AD 200–850), the vessel inspired him to name the species Histiotus mochica or, colloquially, the Moche leaf-eared bat. He did so to recognize the knowledge of Indigenous peoples and to honor the Moche and their connection to the natural world. Indeed, as he notes in a publication about the species, the bat vessel is so accurately depicted that it allowed precise identification of an animal previously unknown to science and thus stands as a testament to the Moche’s observational skills and profound interest in nature.”

Vanessa Stockard (Australian, b.1975)

Cat and kittens - Henriette Ronner-Knip - 1903 - via Bonham's

Philippe Rousseau, 1816-1887 - The rat who withdrew from the world

Milo Manara - Even Cowgirls Get the Blues

Minyoung Kim - Yum Yum, 2023

JOHN WILLIAM WATERHOUSE

A Sketch of a Bear (1913)

Kitten's Game, Henriëtte Ronner-Knip, 1860s or 1870s

Gustave Dore (French, 1832-1883) - Two Owls

Francis Picabia, Le singe, 1939-1940

Francis Bacon, Monkey, 1953

Birds and flowers by Wang Binglong (Chinese, 1940–1999).

#ThreeForThursday:

Tea Service in the Shape of Quails

Gujarat (formerly Baroda), India, 1920-30

Silver, gilded silver, ivory

Virginia Museum of Fine Arts display

“The British were not India's only patrons of elegant silver.

Native princes - always engaged in dynamic cultural interchanges with their British overlords - also commissioned silver of the highest quality. Such patronage was nowhere more prominent than in western India, where the rulers of the state of Kutch were champions of their silversmiths. These leaders ensured their region's silver became the best known of India's styles through sponsorship at international exhibitions, beginning with London's Great Exhibition of 1851. This stylishly whimsical tea service in the shape of richly feathered quails was produced by Oomersee Mawjee Jr., son of Kutch's most renowned master silversmith, after he shifted to the employ of another western Indian ruler, Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III of Baroda.”

Daniel Arthur

Pizza Boy II

oil on panel

Herten in een bos - Adolphe Mouilleron, after Karl Bodmer - 1859 - via Rijksmuseum