In Japan this beckoning cat brings goodluck. It says hey come over here, I got some goodluck for you! Come and get it!
This is based of a public domain image found on Wikimedia originally uploaded by user Searobin.
I found a photo of this image on a friend's post on joindiaspora.com. I think the source of the photo is this site http://blog.revoltriot.com/post/2945754911. The photo could be copyrighted but the drawing itself has unknown author.
Japanese illustration of a dragon teapot from page 419 of an 1882 book entitled "Japan" by Christopher Dresser (LCCN: 09023669); http://openlibrary.org/b/OL13440038M