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