LONDON.- A rare earthenware ceramic cat made by David Hockney in 1955 sold for an astonishing £33,600 at Bonhams today (20 April) against a pre sale estimate of £5,000 -7,000.

Although Hockney experimented with ceramics in his youth, the works rarely appear at auction and the subject matter – a rather startled looking cat – is in interesting contrast to the artist’s famous love of dogs.

A rare, signed proof copy of the lithograph, ‘An Image of Celia’, in the original frame, hand painted by the artist, and dating from the mid-1980s sold for £66,000. The Picasso-like image of Hockney’s close friend, and muse, the textile designer Celia Birtwell, had an estimate of £60,000- 80,000.

An early work, the lithograph ‘Fires of Furious Desire - The Most Beautiful Boy in the World’ of 1963 was sold for £14,260 (pre-sale estimate £6,000-8,000).

‘Moving Focus – Walking Past Two Chairs’from the mid 1980s, which had been estimated at £20,000-30,000, was sold for £50,400.

‘Winter Road near Kilham’an Inkjet printed computer drawing from 2008 (£10,000-15,000) made £21,080.

In total the sale made £634,890 with 92% sold by lot and 93% sold by value.