Black and grey tattoo of a lion in a top hat, monocle, bow tie and tailored waistcoat and jacket, on the inner forearm.

Anthropomorphic lion in top hat on a forearm

Forearm · Black and grey · Photo

A lion wearing a top hat, monocle and bow tie is shown from the chest up in a tailored jacket and waistcoat with a chain across the front. The linework is bold and the shading uses dark tones and light greys to model the mane and clothing. The tattoo fills the centre of the forearm and is set against plain skin with a checked shirt sleeve at the top of the frame.

Forearm Lion Top hat Monocle Bow tie Suit

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Thomasina,

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You will think me soft in the head when you read this, but I have finished the waistcoat for Mr Leopold Ashby, and I want you to know how I did it, because you will need to do the same one day when some proud fellow walks in with a hat he cannot afford and a mane he cannot tame.

He came in on Thursday, the week before the wedding, and sat on my stool as though it were a throne. He wanted the jacket cut long at the back and a waistcoat with a watch chain across the front. The chain was the difficulty. He had a silver watch that had belonged to his father, and he would not let it out of his sight, but the old clasp had worn through. I told him I could fit a new one. He said no, the watch must stay as it was, and the chain must hang exactly where his father had worn it, which is the sort of stubbornness you and I know well.

So I unpicked the lining and found a little pocket behind the left breast, and I sewed the watch there so that nobody would see it but him. He sat very still while I worked. When I asked what the fuss was about, he said his bride, Hester, had given him that watch with her first letter, and he wanted it close to the words of that letter, where they could keep each other company.

Dear Thomasina, the wedding was yesterday. Hester wore grey silk and laughed at his monocle. When he lifted his glass, the chain caught the candlelight, and I saw his paw go to the pocket and rest there, quite still, as though he were checking his heart was still in its place.

Yours in haste, Augustus