An almost full-length (feet missing) figurehead of the Italian general and politician Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807-1882) painted in a light blue jacket with red necktie loosely around his neck. In his left hand is a scroll. Garibaldi is depicted with his famous full beard and long hair curled at the neck. The figurehead is from the Garibaldi (1860), a three-masted barque-rigged wooden Norwegian merchant ship. The ship was on passage from Leith to Quebec with a cargo of coal. However, the Garibaldi was making water and eventually stranded in Linklet Bay, North Ronaldsay, Orkney, on 19 July 1886.

As one of the founding fathers of a united Italy, Giuseppe Garibaldi was famous in his day as a revolutionary and nationalist. In 1864, he was enthusiastically received during a visit to Britain as a liberator and Italian hero. This encouraged the commercial production of commemorative merchandise, such as plates, cups and figurines.