Ulbricht Mini Toy Soldier German Nutcracker

It is worth noting, before any further admiration is permitted, that the figure in question is precisely what its workshop claims it to be: a line infantryman rendered at the small-parade scale of 7.3 inches, issued from the Seiffen workshop of Christian Ulbricht, and conforming in every visible respect to the regimental conventions an observer of the period would expect to find. One must consider the particulars before one considers the poetry.

The particulars, then. A black cylindrical shako — the tall crowned headgear that superseded the mitre cap across most German states in the early nineteenth century — is centered with a gold medallion and surmounted by a single white feather plume of the kind reserved for parade dress. A white wig descends past the ears in the manner of officers who had not yet accepted the abolition of powder. The jacket is navy; the button rows are vertical and paired; a gold aiguillette crosses the chest on the right shoulder, which is, in point of fact, the correct shoulder. The cuffs and base are amber, a pairing drawn from Saxon regimental palettes one can still verify in the plates at the Dresden military archive.

He stands, at the Castle, at the foot of the east corridor stair — the post I assigned him myself the morning he arrived, as the corridor is drafty and a soldier ought to be useful. Fritz has attempted on three occasions to conscript him into the larger army upstairs. The soldier has not moved. Neither, I should note, have I authorized the transfer.

— Herr Stahlbaum