Indian Temple Fragment Depicting Perched Cat

Prowling cat peers out of a slab like it just remembered an appointment.

This temple fragment depicting perched cat is Jain, from Kutch District, Gujarat, India, and dates to the 18th century. It is carved & painted stone. Jain texts picture the universe as shaped like a man, broad at the top, narrow in the middle and broad again at the bottom. Relief of a long-bodied cat with a striped, combed mane and round red-rimmed eyes, set into a rough rectangular block. Yellow and olive paint is worn dark and crusty, with a streak of blue along the bottom edge. It is 29 inches wide, 26 deep and 6 high.

Weathered, wary, and still keeping an eye on things.