Height: 21.2cm (8.3in)
Patinated iron. Standing figure of the 1st Duke of Wellington wrapped in a cloak. Signed to the underside of the base ‘Devaranne / Ac. Kunstl Berlin / and ‘deponirt’ [patent], and to to top of the base ‘Muller & Co. Edinboro’ for the import house.
Deveranne was recorded in 1828 as a manufacturer of cast-iron wares and in 1850 as owner of a cast-iron foundry. He exhibited in Berlin in 1822, 1827 and 1842 and showed at the Great Exhibition in 1851. He was awarded the title of 'academischer Kunstler' in 1829 and added the abbreviation Ac. Kunstl. to his mark. On his death in 1859 the firm closed down.
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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.
Iron as 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. When Napoleon invaded in 1806 the means of production along with much else of economic value were stripped from the Royal factory and shipped to France, sparking a fashion for ‘Fer de Berlin’ that spread throughout Napoleon’s occupied territories. Meanwhile in Prussia members of the nobility sold their gold and silver jewellery to fund the German resistance movement and wore in its place iron jewellery, often inscribed with such phrases as ‘Gold gab ich für Eisen’ (I gave gold for iron) and 'Eingetauscht zum Wohle des Vaterlandes’ (Exchanged for the welfare of the Fatherland).