The horse has a name and a history almost as storied as the rider's. Marengo — a small grey Arabian said to have been imported from Egypt and named for the battle Napoleon nearly lost on June 14, 1800 — carried the Emperor through Austerlitz, Jena, Wagram, the Russian campaign, and at last Waterloo. He was wounded in service more than once and stayed steady under fire, which mattered for a commander who read a battlefield from the saddle. Taken by the British after Waterloo and shipped to England, Marengo outlived his master; his skeleton stands to this day in a London museum, the bones of the most famous warhorse in Europe.

The figure shows Napoleon mounted on Marengo at the walk, wrapped in the grey redingote over his undress uniform, the small bicorne worn corner-forward, surveying the field from the saddle. The grey horse stands square on a red-and-gold Guard shabraque. It is the companion to the dismounted Napoleon Bonaparte in Greatcoat — the same grey-coated Emperor, on foot and on horseback. Build a review around him: ride him past the cheering ranks of a Vive l'Empereur Cheering Imperial Guard with the French Imperial Guard Eagle raised in salute.

W. Britain model 36198. 1/30 scale (approximately 60mm), matte-painted metal. Single mounted figure on a sculpted groundwork base. Boxed.