Commentary Prepared by Dr. Julia Lenaghan, Ashmolean Museum

C 136
Sandal-Binder. Copenhagen

Roman statue of Hermes fastening his right sandal. A version of an original statue possibly created ca.300 BC and sometimes associated with Lysippos.

Marble
Statue
1.54 m, with plinth 1.62 m

From Tivoli. Found at Hadrian’s Villa in 1769 by Gavin Hamilton. Bought in 1772, it was in London at the Lansdowne House until 1930.
Denmark, Copenhagen, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, 2798
Roman statue based on an original dated ca.300 BC

Preservation:
The nose, part of the right eyebrow, the hair above the right ear, a piece of the neck, the right forearm, the right foot, the rock, the tree trunk support, most of the plinth, the cloak, the buttocks, and the left lower leg are restored. The left foot and the adjacent area of the plinth are ancient. The plowshare and the left sandal restored on the plinth follow the model of the Louvre copy of the same statue type. The head is broken and re-set but belongs.

Description:
The statue depicts a nude male bending in order to latch or unlatch the straps of the sandal on his right foot with his right hand. The right foot rests on an elevated rock. The right leg is bent so that the thigh and shin form a right angle. The right arm reaches behind the right leg to the foot. The left arm is lowered and the elbow rests on the right knee. The left leg is long and straight. The body bends at the waist towards the rock. The head turns up and over the left shoulder as if attentive to an event in that direction. The head features short un-parted curly hair cut around the ears and beginning high on the forehead. Although in general it stays close to the head, near the left ear it has its greatest volume. The right ear is awkwardly worked; it is small and curves with the shape of the head. The left ear is larger and more three-dimensional. Below the hair, the lower area of the tall brow protrudes. The eyes are both wide and deep set. The mouth is small and open and the cheeks taper down to a narrow chin. The body is nude but for a piece of drapery that is wound around the left forearm and falls over both sides of the right thigh. The drapery is mainly restoration. On the right foot is a sandal and near the left foot is the left sandal (restoration), placed so that its toe faces the viewer. A plowshare (again restoration) rests on the ground behind the rock. Running parallel to the left leg is a tree trunk support that runs from the under side of the right thigh to the ground. A strut runs from the tree trunk to the outside of the right ankle. The back corners of the plinth are cut diagonally.

Discussion:
The Copenhagen Sandal-Binder, showing a naked male fastening or unfastening his right sandal, is a Roman marble copy of a bronze statue probably created in the Early Hellenistic period that depicted Hermes. Notwithstanding all of its restorations, the Copenhagen statue was until a 1977 discovery at Perge, the best preserved example of the type which is known in at least 13 variously preserved copies. The copies are 1) Antalya, a statue from a palestra at Perge, 2) the piece in discussion here, 3) Louvre MA 83, from the Theater of Marcellus, without a pertinent head, 4) Munich 287, from the Villa of Hadrian at Tivoli, without a head, 5) Perinthos, a torso, 6) Side, a torso, 7) Athens Akropolis 1325, the head and upper body, 8) Vatican, Galleria delle Candelabre, a statuette showing the mirror reverse, 9) Rome Terme 188938, an under life-size fragment, 10) Conservatori, torso, 11) the British Museum, 1785, a head known as the “Fagan Head”, 12) Copenhagen 273, a head , and 13) a head in Turin. This substantial number of copies attests the work’s popularity in the Roman period. It is worth noting that several of the copies come from the Greek East, particularly Asia Minor. Also the Copenhagen Sandal-Binder and the Munich one both come from the same area, the Pantanello, at Hadrian’s Villa in Tivoli. Until 1977 scholarly debate about the “Sandal-binder” type had focused on the identity of the figure. The initial identification of the statue as Jason, who lost a shoe crossing a river, was proved incorrect when the Munich statue, preserving both sandals, was published. Then Hermes became the most popular identification. Gems and coins show a similar figure that is clearly identified as Hermes. A late antique author, Christodoros, mentions a statue that depicts Hermes tying his sandal in the Lauseion at up until 1979 preserved any attribute, it was pointed out that none of the statues preserved the left hand and J. Inan had associated a winged sandal found in Building M at Side with the torso of the type found there. The Roman period use of the statue in gymnasia would be especially appropriate for a statue of Hermes. The argument against the Hermes identification, led by Ridgway, was based around several points. The face had almost portrait-like qualities; the under life-size Terme copy (which appears to be a variant rather than a true copy) showed the left hand near the foot, not holding a kerykeion. The preserved sandals gave no indication of wings. Ridgway considered the statue as that of an athlete, putting on his sandals as he departs the palestra or taking them off in preparation for a race. In 1979 a statue, found at Perge in 1977, was published. It ended the argument. The statue holds the kerykeion in his left hand; the raised right foot rests on a tortoise; and the sandals seem to have been winged. This find gives the passage of Christodoros greater importance. Christodoros writes: “There too was Hermes with his rod of gold. He was standing but was tying with his right hand the lace of his winged shoe, eager to start on his way. His right leg already bent, over it was extend his left hand his face was upturned to the sky as if he were listening to the orders of his father.” Ecphrasis. Anth.Pall.II 292-302 (translation by Paton) Ridgway’s suggestion in 1990 that this passage does not describe the Sandal-Binder is untenable. She believes that the Perge statue could not be latching his sandal with only one hand and, consequently, the Sandal-Binder type is unlatching his sandal. Thus, she concludes that this statue is not that described by Christodoros. The significant number of copies and the awkward tree trunk support assure the original model of the statue was a bronze. Stylistically, the statue is often compared to the Vatican Apoxyomenos, (cat.no. C 133) attributed to Lysippos and to the Borghese Warrior (cat.no. B 127). The proportions of the body and the head type are similar. Thus, some scholars consider the Sandal-Binder a work of Lysippos or to an early Hellenistic follower of Lysippos. Ridgway alone considers the statue to date to the second half of the second century BC. Vierneisel-Schlörb considers it likely that the original model was located in Asia Minor, perhaps at Ephesos. For her this explains the eastern copies, the appearance of the type on eastern coins, and finally even the fact that the statue may have ended up in Istanbul in Late Antiquity. Julia Lenaghan

Bibliography:
F. Poulsen, Catalogue of Ancient Sculpture in the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek (Copenhagen 1951) 204 no.273a full catalogue entry
B. S. Ridgway, "The Date of the So-Called Lysippean Jason" (AJA 68 1964) 113-128 replica list plus all related statues and statuettes, believes the statue to depict an athlete and to be a second century creation with echoes of Lysippos
J. Inan, Roman Sculpture in Side (Ankara 1975) 92-96 publication of a copy of the type found at Side, asserts that the original represented Hermes and ought to be associated with Lysippos
J. Inan, "Lysippos’un Sandal Baglayan Hermes Heykeli" (Belleten 43 1979) 397-413 first publication of an example of the type from Perge which is clearly Hermes
B. Vierneisel-Schlörb, Katalog der Skulpturen Band II: Klassische Skulpturen des 5 und 4 Jahrhunderts v. Chr. (Munich 1979) 457-468 catalogue entry of the Munich copy of the type with full discussion of the type and new replica list, atttributes the statue to Teisikrates, a sculptor of the school of Lysippos
J. Raeder, Die statuarische Ausstattung der Villa Hadriana bei Tivoli (Frankfurt 1983) 34-36 no. I.6 catalogue entry with emphasis on find location
G. Siebert, "Hermes" Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (Zurich 1990) 368-369 no.958 important facts and bibliography concerning the type
B. S. Ridgway, Hellenistic Sculpture I: The Styles of ca. 331-200 BC (Bristol 1990) 81-82 begrudgingly admits that the type probably represents Hermes, though insists that he cannot be latching his sandals and that the statue type dates to ca. 150 BC
L. Todisco, Scultura greca del IV secolo (Milan 1993) 127 no.276 brief mention and bibliography under the entry for the statue found at Perge
P. Moreno (ed), Lisippo. L’Arte e la fortuna (Monza 1995) 230-231 comptetent discussion of the type which he attributes to a follower of Lysippos