Shop Artful Gifts at The Met Store
All throughout hiss-tory, cats have enchanted artists with their playful personalities and captivating quirks. From sacred Egyptian statuettes to Japanese paintings and prints portraying the sly, the snuggly, and the snoozing, fanciful felines abound in The Met collection. Below, explore paw-some holiday gift ideas for the cat lover in your life.
Steinlen Cats Tea-for-One Set
Enjoy a spot of tea with this all-in-one set for the cat enthusiast, celebrating the graphic artist Théophile-Alexandre Steinlen's (French, b. Switzerland, 1859–1923) fondness for felines.
Steinlen drew cats throughout his long career with unvarying grace and skill—his models were the habitués of Parisian rooftops, streets, cemeteries, and garbage bins around the Montmartre neighborhood where he resided. Their antics are illustrated in the artist's famous book Cats: Pictures without Words (1898), a copy of which is in The Met's Drawings and Prints collection.
Steinlen Cats Women's Cotton Pajamas and Unisex Robe
Be the cat's pajamas in our 100% cotton women's sleepwear and unisex loungewear likewise inspired by Steinlen's book.
Elastic-waist pants with pockets lend comfort and utility to our dreamy pajama set, elevated with mother-of-pearl buttons on the short-sleeve top and presented in a matching gift pouch.
The Favorite Cat Plush
Curl up with our plush inspired by Nathaniel Currier’s The Favorite Cat (1838–48), a hand-colored lithograph in The Met collection.
Currier earned lasting fame as coprincipal of the New York–based firm Currier & Ives (American, 1857–1907), renowned in the latter half of the 19th century for their wildly popular prints. Our lovable tabby is one of four plush toys inspired by Museum animals. Meet the rest of the crew, each with The Met logo embroidered on the bottom of their feet.
The Favorite Cat Apron
Butter up your favorite home cook with our adjustable apron featuring Currier's favorite cat.
The Favorite Cat Tote
Skip the wrapping this year and present your gift in The Favorite Cat Tote. But don't forget the card! Send season's greetings with our quilled card, handcrafted by highly skilled artisans in Vietnam, or choose from our Cats of the Met set of 36 notecards (3 each of 12 designs) with 12 cuddly companions selected from the Museum's holdings.
Toko Cat Silk Neckerchief
In Ōide Tōkō’s (Japanese, 1841–1905) Cat Watching a Spider (ca. 1888–92), a mischievous mouser donning a red-and-blue neckerchief keeps a watchful eye on an unsuspecting arachnid.
Our stylish silk neckerchief reimagines the accessory adorning Tōkō’s cat, adapting the same stylized butterfly and flower motifs as seen in the Museum’s painting. Tōkō worked in Tokyo during a period when Japanese artists were actively engaging with western styles. In this delightful artwork, he used ink to render the individual strands of fur in delicate strokes, and then washes for the solid fields of color on the cat’s body and in the painting's background.
Cats of the Museum Magnets
Perfect for the home or office, our set of nine miniature magnets presents a clowder of Met cats, from Currier & Ives’s Little White Kitties (1857–71), who eagerly partake in the milk they’ve spilled; to Théophile-Alexandre Steinlen’s (French, b. Switzerland, 1859–1923) lounging Cat on a Cushion (1909).
Unique Holiday Gifts for Art Lovers
Shop our cat-inspired gifts in-store and online.
*Charles Stewart Smith Collection, Gift of Mrs. Charles Stewart Smith, Charles Stewart Smith Jr., and Howard Caswell Smith, in memory of Charles Stewart Smith, 1914
