Height: 24cm (9.5in)
Patinated iron. Standing figure of the George IV in field marshal’s uniform with epaulettes, and decorated with the order of the Golden Fleece at his neck and star and sash of the Order of the Garter. Raised on an integral plinth .
The significance of the present figure lies in the alliances between Great Britain and Prussia during the Napoleonic Wars in general, and more specifically during the War of the Sixth Coalition which saw Napoleon driven out of Germany after the battle of Leipzig, and French Forces expelled from the Iberian Peninsula by the Duke of Wellington; and the Seventh Coalition which ended in Allied victory at Waterloo.
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Iron as a decorative material received a boost in the 1790s in Revolutionary France, when jewellery made from iron salvaged from the wreckage of the Bastille inspired Prussian manufacturers to produce intricate black iron jewellery from the purest available iron. Detailed shapes were carved in wax and placed in molds filled with fine sand. Molten metal was poured in to create objects that, when cooled and hardened, were hand finished and coated with linseed oil to prevent rust.
In 1804 the opening of the Royal Berlin Factory, the Königliche Eisengießerei on the city’s northern outskirts further identified Berlin ironware with the state. Production soon expanded to cover a range of decorative objects that included small statues and figurines, as well as architectural features such as the iron bridge in Berlin's Charlottenburg Park.