A Marble Head of the Sandal-binding Hermes by Lysippos, Roman Imperial, Asia Minor, circa early 2nd Century A.D.

from an over lifesize figure of the god, turned to his left, with full parted lips and large deep-set eyes, his hair radiating from the crown in rows of thick overlapping curls and falling in comma-shaped locks over the forehead.

French private collection, near Blois, acquired circa 1920

Nose mostly missing as shown, surface evenly weathered, rims of ears abraded and chipped on both sides, minor chips and abrasions elsewhere, there is a broad vertical break on the very back of the head and neck where support once was.
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There are six other known Roman versions of the head of Lysippos' sandal-binding Hermes: two in Antalya, including one still attached to the body of the statue (Antalya Museum, inv. nos. 3.25.77 and 306.81, both from Perge in Pamphylia: see J. Inan, "Der Sandalenbindende Hermes," Antike Plastik, Lieferung 22, Munich, 1993, pls. 34-39), one in London (British Museum, inv. no. 1785, the so-called Fagan Head, mounted on an 18th Century bust: see Antike Plastik, Lieferung VI, Berlin, 1967, figs. 7-8), two in Copenhagen, including one with its original body and originally from the Lansdowne Collection, one recarved from an Imperial portrait bust (respectively Ny Carlsberg Glyptothek, inv. nos. I.N. 2798 and I.N. 572: see M. Moltesen, Catalogue. Imperial Rome II. Statues, Copenhagen, 2002, nos. 54 and 55, respectively), and finally an unfinished example in Athens (B.S. Ridgway, Hellenistic Sculpture I: The Styles of ca. 331-200 B.C., Bristol, 1990, pls. 43a-b).

The rectangular-shaped vertical break at the back of the present head shows that it had the type of neck-support typical of Roman sculpture in Asia Minor; the same kind of reinforcement is preserved on both heads from Perge (see J. Inan, op. cit.).