So why does this little lion model have a strap of sorts around his belly? This question has been answered somewhere deep within my many blog postings, but here it is again: the Patriotic Group pot bank used this very lion in large chariot groups, and to pull a chariot a lion needs a harness!
Of course, I was excited to see the beautiful little lion, above, that popped onto the Mears and Boyer site this week. With this combination of base and bocage, it qualifies as a new addition to my archive. But this little lion is not totally unfamiliar because, as you see below, I have recorded him facing both left and right on a differently painted base of the same form.
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The two examples shown here have typical Patriotic Group bocages, although they are quite different from that on the Mears and Boyer lion. To complicate matters, the Patriotic Group pot bank made this lion on other bases and with other bocages.
The Patriotic Group pot bank also made other lion models on similar bases. And it made leopards. The leopards come complete with harnesses because they too pulled chariots! You can read about it in my April 2013 posting by clicking here. If you are tempted to own the Mears and Boyer lion, you will love it!
