Object details
Object number
ARC.004311
Creator(s)
Dodge MacKnight
(Providence, 1860 - 1950, Sandwich, Massachusetts)
Title
Letter to Isabella Stewart Gardner from Cochin (Kotchan/Kowun) the Cat
Date
1913
Medium
Ink on paper
Language
English
Signatures, inscriptions, and markings
Marked in pencil (upper left corner): 54Dated in pencil in Morris Carter's hand (lower left): 1913?Stationery printed in red ink:風流李寶七小 /町？年町寺 [nonsense characters, comically intended to represent a cat's writing] /Translation by Th. Giukcam, Esq. /of the Fujiyama OservatoryDear Mrs. Gardner /Thank you, honorable mistress, for finding me /such a nice home where I get real thingsto eat instead of horrible canned goods. /I am well and fat and my hair is so /long that I must really go to the barber's /next week. Come down and see me — /I want to lick your hand —Merry Xmas. /Yours faithfully, /Cochin /1913? /alias Cloud, Cochon & Squinkly.
Commentary
This comical letter is written from the point-of-view of Cochin, a small white cat that Isabella Stewart Gardner initially gifted to Okakura Kakuzo. When Okakura returned to Japan in 1911, he was unable to take the cat with him, and left it in the care of artist Dodge Macknight (1860–1950). In this letter, Cochin the cat describes its new home to Isabella, and thanks her for finding a new owner who could provide “such a nice home where I get real things to eat instead of horrible canned goods,” and implores her to visit the pair.
Bibliography
Nina Wutrich, "Correspondence from Cochin the Cat," Inside the Collection (blog), Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 8 August 2023, https://www.gardnermuseum.org/blog/correspondence-cochin-cat
Gallery
Long Gallery
Case
Modern Painters And Sculptors Case
Rights and reproductions
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