Blue & White Tuxedo Cat Plate

A small round porcelain plate with a blissfully sleepy tuxedo cat curled up inside, painted in deep cobalt blue on white. He has his eyes shut, a contented little smile and a white face and chest. One paw is raised in a wave, the other is tucked in, and his tail wraps right around the edge of the plate. The outside is plain white, so the cat is the whole show. It's handy for snacks, sauces, rings or a tea bag, and it makes a sweet companion to our blue-and-white calico cat plate.

In Japan, a black-and-white cat like this is called a "hachiware" cat. The name comes from the way the dark fur splits across the face in an upside-down V, like the kanji for eight (八, hachi), and "wareru" means to split. Hachiware patterns were once thought unlucky, but today the eight-shape is read as a happy sign, because the character widens out toward the bottom like a future that keeps getting brighter.