This is a mug shaped like a cat, but not just any cat. Pyewacket was one of the familiar spirits of a witch detected by the witchfinder general Matthew Hopkins in March 1644 in the town of Manningtree, Essex, England. Hopkins claimed he spied on the witches as they held their meeting close by his house, and heard them mention the name of a local woman. She was arrested and deprived of sleep for four nights, at the end of which she confessed and called out the names of her familiars, describing the forms in which they should appear. Pyewacket was the first one mentioned. The incident is described in Hopkins's pamphlet "The Discovery of Witches" (1647). This mug version comes in different glaze variations with decorative collars as well as holes around the nose for toothpick 'whiskers'.