This beautiful embroidery shows a cat looking at a mantis. Presumably based on a story or fable, these works tell us a lot about the character of these creatures without having knowledge of its origin. The intent look on the cat’s face towards the mantis appears to personify the cat, as if the cat is intently listening to the mantis, or contemplating something in its head. Although it could just be a literal representation of a cat looking at a mantis. Looking on YouTube it appears that cats do fight praying mantises in real life. In most of the videos the praying mantis doesn’t do much and gets battered around by the cat, but the cat nevertheless seems to be on guard and intimidated by the mantis. Maybe this piece is a metaphor for resilience in the face of danger? Or maybe someone thought that watching their cat fight a mantis was so cool they had to memorialize that epic moment in silk forever.