Black and grey ink wash tattoo of a rearing horse with a Chinese character and red seal stamps on the outer thigh.

Ink wash horse with seal stamps on thigh

Thigh · Mixed · Photo

A rearing horse with flowing mane and tail is drawn in loose, brushed black and grey shading, like traditional ink wash painting. A bold black Chinese character sits to the upper left of the horse, with small red seal stamps beside it and at the top right. The horse is centred on a pale, lightly haired leg, photographed close up against a dark background.

Thigh Horse Chinese character Calligraphy

Find an artist for this

Take it to an artist as a reference. A good artist will make it yours rather than copy someone else's tattoo.

A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Sit down, all of you, the bride's cousins can scold the groom from the doorway without you standing in the way. I will tell you about the horse, since the young man's mother keeps pointing at the red seal on the invitation. Hear me properly, and do not talk over the old woman with the fan.

Keep reading

Long ago a scribe named Wen Liang kept a black mare in a courtyard that backed onto the river. He had painted for the magistrate for thirty years and was tired of painting only what he was told. So one wet morning, when a boat horn startled the mare into rearing at the gate, he wet his brush, watched her for three breaths, and painted her in a handful of strokes. The mane flew like smoke off a lamp. The tail curled up like the end of a question. He signed the paper, pressed his seal beside his name, and the ink was still wet when the magistrate's man came for the painting.

The magistrate did not pay. He hung the horse in the hall and asked why it looked as though it wanted to leave the page. Wen Liang said that was the only honest thing a horse could do. The magistrate sulked for a week, then sent a servant with a jar of wine and a request for a second painting, then a third. Wen Liang grew rich enough to buy the mare her freedom from the stable, and she spent her last years in the orchard where the river bends.

Now the musicians are tuning and the bride is coming out with her face already wet. Go and dance. The horse will wait in the hall, and the ink will keep.