Cream Cat Ceramic Dishes

Cat shaped ceramic dishes in calico and ginger, from a 6 cm dip dish to a 150 ml bowl

These cream cat ceramic dishes are small hand-painted ceramic pieces shaped like a sitting cat, a lying cat or a cat's head with two ears. You pick a shape and a colour: calico is cream with grey and ginger patches, ginger is butter yellow with soft green stripes. Buy one for the tea table or build a set a piece at a time. They all come from the same maker, so the glaze and colours match across shapes.

They're for the things at a tea table that always need a dish and never have one: a few dried longans, or the wet end of a tea scoop. The mini ones hold about 30 ml, enough for soy sauce or a pinch of salt. The plates and bowls take a proper serving of nuts or a small dessert.

The glaze has a speckled, slightly pebbled surface you can feel with a thumb, and the patches are painted under the glaze so they won't wear off. Ears are a little uneven from piece to piece, which is part of why we like them.

Shapes and sizes

• Mini dish (cat head): 6 × 6 × 2.5 cm, about 30 ml
• Lying cat dish: 7.7 × 5.5 × 2.3 cm
• Cat plate (sitting cat): 12 × 8.8 × 2.6 cm
• Cat-head bowl: 10.5 × 9.5 × 4.5 cm, about 120 ml
• Round bowl (sitting cat, deeper): 11.5 × 10.6 × 4.6 cm, about 150 ml

Product details

• Material: glazed ceramic
• Decoration: hand-painted underglaze colour
• Colours: calico (cream, grey, ginger) or ginger (butter yellow, green stripes)
• Finish: speckled textured glaze
• Origin: China
• Sold: individually

This works well for

• Tea snacks at a gongfu table, dried fruit or a small sweet
• A dip or sauce dish beside dumplings
• A rest for a tea scoop, tongs or a tea pet
• A small gift that fits in a pocket, for anyone with a cat at home

If you're in Hobart, the whole family is out on the counter at our Salamanca Tea Bar. Sizes are easier to judge in the hand than on a screen.

Care

Measurements are taken by hand and can vary by a few millimetres. Small pinholes, specks and glaze pooling are normal for this kind of ware. The maker rates them safe for the dishwasher and microwave. Hand washing keeps the glaze looking good.

Shipping

Ships from Hobart, Tasmania. Free shipping on orders over $95 Australia-wide. Each piece is wrapped separately and boxed with padding.

Related

Tea Wares · Tea Pet · Gifts Under $25