Cats
Sumxu was a pretty yellow-and-black animal that was commonly tamed and wore a silver
collar. They were valued as hunters of mice and sold for up to 9 silver coins (indicating their
usefulness or rarity).
The cat-like Sumxu was described in early 1700s as a curiosity, and in 1796 when a droop-
eared cat brought back from China. But how did the Sumxu name end up attached to a variety
of cat?
This engraving is from German Jesuit Athanasius Kircher's book "China Monumentis, Qua
Sacris qua Profanis" (1666). The book is written in Latin and describes the Sumxu as being
like a cat. The engravings would have been done from descriptions or rough sketches rather
than from life. Kircher was a scholar rather than a missionary and he relied on the expert
knowledge of those who had travelled to China, such as Boym and one of Kircher's former
students, Martino Martini. Kircher's description of the sumxu referred to it as a domestic
annaabi.ee 
