Part of a relief slab with a winged Nike, the “Sandalbinder”
Relief slab depicting a Nike, the personification of the idea of victory in athletic and martial contests.
The winged deity bends her right leg to adjust or unbind her sandal in order to proceed barefoot into the sacred area of the temple. The figure impresses with its original stance and the detailed rendering of the body which can be discerned under her transparent chiton that clings to her body as if wet.
This slab, probably the work of Agorakritos, is considered a masterpiece, representing in the best possible way the so-called “Rich Style” in sculptural art of the end of the 5th cent. BC.
- Acropolis Museum, inv. n. Acr. 973
- Ca 410 BC
- H. 1.06 m. L. 0.52 m.
- Marble from Penteli
- Provenance: Temple of Athena Nike on the Athenian Acropolis. It was found in 1835.
Bibliography
- Carpenter, R. (1929). The Sculptures of the Nike Temple Parapet, pp. 62-65, 73-74, 79-80, fig. pl. XXVII, XXVIII.2, XXIX, XXXIV.4, no.cat. 12, Cambridge Massachusetts: Harvard University. Press.
- Holtzmann, B. (2003). L’Acropole d’ Athènes: Monuments, cultes et histoire du sanctuaire d’Athèna Polias, pp. 160 – 163, Paris: Editions Picard.
- Μπρούσκαρη, Μ. (1998). Το θωράκιο του Ναού της Αθηνάς Νίκης, Αρχαιολογική Εφημερίς, pp. 128-134, fig. 5-7, 79.
