Remnants of an Army (by Elizabeth Thompson) Metal Tree Decoration

This design features a painting by the British artist Elizabeth Thompson, later known as Lady Butler, who specialised in painting scenes from British military campaigns and battles, including the Crimean War and the Napoleonic Wars. It depicts William Brydon, assistant surgeon in the Bengal Army, arriving at the gates of Jalalabad in January 1842. Brydon was thought to be the only survivor of the approximately 16,000 soldiers and camp followers from the 1842 retreat from Kabul in the First Anglo-Afghan War, and is shown here toiling the last few miles to safety on an exhausted and dying horse. The walls of Jalalabad loom over a desolate plain and riders from the garrison gallop from the gate to reach the solitary figure bringing the first word of the fate of the "Army of Afghanistan". The original artwork was painted by Elizabeth Thompson in 1879, during the period of the Second Anglo-Afghan War.