Painter of imperial epics from the time he followed Napoleon III's army, Meissonier began producing small-scale sculptures in wax or plastiline from 1860 onwards, which he used as models for his paintings and drawings. The sketchy brushwork contrasts with the meticulousness with which the master worked on his paintings, and makes it unthinkable that this work would have been published at the time it was created. 

After the artist's death in 1891, the public was able to discover the wax sculptures Meissonier had made, but never shown, at an exhibition in March 1893 at the Galerie Georges Petit. It was on this occasion that the founder Siot-Decauville, in agreement with the family and G. Petit, took the initiative of marketing a limited series of four models: The Traveller, Napoleon I in 1814, the Cuirassier and the Trotting Horse.

Launched the following year, the series was an immediate success, with particular attention paid to the patina.