What is a pet dwarf?

[all potted out]

Dear Teachers,

I read this:

Francesco Gonzaga... attended by several greyhounds and a pet dwarf upholstered in brocade."

What is "a pet dwarf upholstered in brocade"? Is it human or animal? And dressed nicely?

[Conchita]

Is that from Verdi’s opera ‘Rigoletto’?

Dwarfs are people who are much smaller than normal. In the past, the nobility often kept them for amusement, together with buffoons, dancers, minstrels, etc. Here, the dwarf was luxuriously dressed.