Have you seen this fabulous feline on John Howard's site?
Pearlware crouching leopard from the stock of John Howard.
My first thought: why is there a stump under the leopard yet there is no bocage above? Some figures are made thus, but in most cases a stump is the remains of a bocage. When the bocage breaks, a restorer rounds off the edge to create a naturalistic stump.
My second thought: why is the stump a different shade of green? Typically, a bocage trunk, if green, uses the same green as is used elsewhere on the base or on the figure itself.
So in my mind things didn't quite add up.
BUT
John's description said nothing about bocage loss or breakage....and John is totally honest on these issues. So I looked at the picture of the back of the figure. Here it is, also from John's site.
My second thought: why is the stump a different shade of green? Typically, a bocage trunk, if green, uses the same green as is used elsewhere on the base or on the figure itself.
So in my mind things didn't quite add up.
BUT
John's description said nothing about bocage loss or breakage....and John is totally honest on these issues. So I looked at the picture of the back of the figure. Here it is, also from John's site.
Rear of leopard in the stock of John Howard.
Perfection! That clearly is an original stump. Look at how it has been formed to meld into the leopard's body. A one time event? I dug into my archive and found this.
Pearlware crouching tiger formerly in the stock of Andrew Dando.
Another feline, this time a leopard, formerly in the stock of Andrew Dando. Again, the stump is painted a different green, that same turquoise shade. Why? Does this occur only on felines? Time will tell. I will be watching out for more figures with bocage stumps painted in this way.
