The Topkapi Palace, home of the Ottoman Sultans for 400 years, is now a rambling museum. Among its treasures is a 1719 fountain, set into the wall below the main entrance to the Library of Sultan Amet III. Cats are everywhere in Istanbul, including one playing on the rim of this fountain’s bowl. I noticed that the cat’s markings, including the rings on its tail, rhythmically echoed the fountain’s gilded decorations and vertical lines. I waited until the cat turned its back on me and gazed upwards, as if to admire those decorations, and made this photograph.