Head-and-shoulders marble bust on a round socle of Vice-Admiral Nelson.
Nelson is shown with his head slightly turned to his left, in rear-admiral's full-dress uniform with the ribands of the Bath and the Crescent, the stars of the Crescent (above), St Ferdinand (left), the Bath (right) and the two Naval gold medals awarded for St Vincent and the Nile, the latter in reverse and inscribed 'NILE / FIRST AUGUST / 1798'.

Below the stars another medal, fastened with a ribbon bow, bears a design similar to the obverse of the Naval gold medal but is probably intended to represent the Nile medal privately issued by Nelson's agent, Alexander Davison. The empty right sleeve is fastened straight across at the bottom, the anchors on the two uniform buttons on the cuff being shown horizontally.

This is a rather softened and sweetened copy of the Thaller and Ranson bust made in Vienna in 1800-01 (SCU0088), with the crescent in the Turkish star reversed. At some point the Hon. Anne Damer, a notable lady sculptor, seems to have been considered as its possible maker but this has not been confirmed.

The bust was presented to the Museum in January 1932 by one of its most notable early benefactors, Sir Bruce Ingram (1877-1963), the managing editor of the 'Illustrated London News', in memory of his son David, who died in childhood. He had purchased it from Spink's, with a provenance from the Hope Collection.