Height: 9.5cm (3.7in)
Bronze and gilt bronze. Miniature standing caricature figure of the restored Bourbon King of France in uniform wearing the sash and insignia of L'Ordre du Saint-Esprit, the figure of the king opening at the waist to reveal a miniature bust of an imperious Napoleon I in Guard uniform.
Raised on a square base bearing the Royalist moniker for Louis XVIII ‘Le Desiré’ (The desired).
Seditious statuettes of this type were popular with former supporters the First Empire and began to appear following Napoleon’s defeat in 1814 and Louis's return to the Paris from his exile in England. When Napoleon escaped from Elba, Louis fled once more before returning to Paris after Waterloo, whence Napoleonic imagery was banned.