The exhibition, titled "Paws on Parchment", explores the role of cats in the Middle Ages.
The centrepiece of the exhibition is a manuscript that is over 500 years old.
Paw prints on parchment
While finishing the transcription of a manuscript, a Flemish scribe left his parchment out to dry. When he returned a few hours later, he discovered the page was covered in a cat's paw prints!
The exhibition's curators believe this medieval incident still resonates with cat lovers today. After all, what cat owner hasn't left their laptop unattended for a moment, only to find a coded message from their cat typed out on the keyboard?
A love of cats
The exhibition also looks at how people showed affection for their feline friends centuries ago. For instance, one of the featured texts is a Turkish version of The Wonders of Creation, a 13th-century Islamic cosmography work, which is illustrated with a black cat sitting among plants.
There is also a 15th-century painting titled "Virgin and Child with a Cat", which depicts a kitten next to the newborn Jesus. The Baltimore museum has also partnered with a local animal shelter, and four foster kittens visited the exhibition shortly after it opened. What a wonderful idea!
