A Cat Nap

In this humorous kitchen interior scene, a seated woman is fast asleep, oblivious to the pot boiling over on the stove behind her, and unaware that her three children are creating mischief around her. At the left, a boy stands on a stool and reaches one hand into a jar in a cupboard as he licks his other hand. Nearby, an older lad reaches with a pole to dislodge a dead game bird from a basket hanging on the wall. To the right of the stove, a young girl puts her hand in dough rising in a basin set upon a stool. On the floor, a napping cat lies curled as a mouse runs past. Undoubtedly this picture of family life would have amused nineteenth-century American viewers, particularly hard-working mothers whose days were busy with the important duties of child care and cooking meals.


Nathaniel Currier, who established a successful New York-based lithography firm in 1835, produced thousands of hand-colored prints in various sizes that together create a vivid panorama of mid-to-late nineteenth century American life. In 1857, Currier made James Merritt Ives (1824-1895) a business partner. People eagerly acquired Currier & Ives lithographs, such as those featuring spectacular American landscapes, or rural and city views, hunting and fishing scenes, domestic life and numerous other subjects, as an inexpensive way to decorate their homes or business establishments.

The Currier & Ives firm operated until 1907, lithographing over 4,000 subjects for distribution across America and Europe with popular categories also including marines, natural history, genre, caricatures, portraits, history and foreign views. Until the 1880s, images were printed in monochrome, then hand-colored by women who worked for the company. In the late nineteenth century, Currier & Ives began to print lithographs in color.