Tonkinese Collage

by Barbara Keith

Original - Sold

Price

Not Specified

Dimensions

18.000 x 24.000 inches

Title

Tonkinese Collage

Artist

Barbara Keith

Medium

Drawing - Colored Pencil

Description

The Tonkinese is the love child of the Siamese and Burmese breeds. The two breeds from Southeast Asia were crossed in an attempt to create a cat with a moderate body type, a less piercing voice than the Siamese but with loving nature and intelligence shared by both the Siamese and Burmese. But the story of their affair began with a case of mistaken identity.

Wong Mau, a small, dark-brown cat, belonged to Dr. Joseph Thompson. A sailor, knowing of Dr. Thompson’s interest in felines, had brought him the cat, acquired in a far-away port. Wong Mau was at first thought to be a Siamese with a chocolate-colored coat. Such Siamese weren’t unheard of. “Chocolate Siamese” were described in the 1880s. Their bodies were tan or brown, and they had seal-brown or nearly black points. The seal-point Siamese, also known as royal Siamese, had lighter bodies that contrasted with their dark points and were preferred by breeders and the public. The chocolate-colored cats eventually disappeared in Britain, but they still existed in Thailand and Burma (now known as Myanmar), where they were probably the offspring of natural (as opposed to human-directed) matings between free-roaming Siamese and Burmese cats. Wong Mau was one of them. It was her destiny to become the matriarch of two new breeds: the Burmese and, later, the Tonkinese (cattime.com).

Complete 1995 after 10.23 hours spread over 5 days.

Uploaded

October 31st, 2018

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