This sculpture marks a turning point in McCance’s career. Although it is not clear exactly when McCance began working in a semi-abstract style, by 1922 he had arrived at a highly stylised form of painting. This sculpture of a cat features in one of his paintings from about 1922 called ‘Primeval Movement’. The cat form appears twice, in the centre and as a larger form enveloping it. It may well present a mother cat protecting its kitten, a theme McCance treated in a more easily decipherable style in later years. As an object itself, this small sculpture, despite its abstract simplicity, has captured the characteristic curvature of a cat’s form. This contrasts with the angular manner in which the arch has been created.