Figurehead of the Frigate "Alexander Nevsky"

This figurehead of the screw frigate Alexander Nevsky was created in 1861 by the St Petersburg sculptor Nikolai Pimenov. It is a half-length figure of the prince: Alexander Nevsky, in a helmet and chain mail, draws his sword from its scabbard with his right hand, bent at the elbow in front of his chest. The figure is attached to the stem on a volute, a curved bracket.

The frigate was laid down in 1859 at the Okhta shipyard near St Petersburg and launched on 21 September 1861. She was the last Russian warship built of wood. In 1863 the Alexander Nevsky became the flagship of Stepan Lesovsky's squadron and reached New York, and on the night of 12–13 September 1868 she was wrecked off the coast of Jutland.

Nikolai Pimenov (1812–1864) was a professor at the Academy of Arts and from 1855 headed its sculpture class; he made his name with the statue "Youth Playing Knucklebones" (1836). The figure is made of plaster and wood and painted bronze, the bracket black.