Statuette of Hermes

Statuette of a boy wearing winged sandals, which identifes him as Hermes (the Roman Mercury). The pose is relaxed but although his left leg is advanced his torso is frontal and he looks rather formal. His body is supported by a strut on which a caduceus is curved . He looks older than a toddler possibly over 4 years old. He was known as Baby Hermes and it could be a portrait of a boy from a funerary context. It is not certain that the head belonged to the body , there are signs of recutting on both the neck and the torso. Bartman proposed that both head and torso were probably from a portrait piece rather than an idealist statuette because representations of a young Hermes are very rare. The head is very individual with a high forehead and a receding hairline. His mouth is open to reveal his teeth. He has curly hair coiled in a snail pattern. He has an African look and his eyes are narrow with a pointed outer corrner and they are undrilled although it is from the 2nd century AD. The arms are restorations and the figure was broken and reattached at the ankles. The left shoulder has a large patch and a piece missing from the back of the neck.