LOT 0121

Larger Than Life-Size Roman Bronze Sandaled Foot

2ND-3RD CENTURY A.D.

11 3/4 in. (5.84 kg total, foot: 30 cm wide).

Modelled in the round and originally part of a monumental statue, the naturalistic right foot encased in a trochades leather sandal with median reversed tongue secured with side straps and thick looped laces; the thick platform sole slightly curved, toes and nails well defined; mounted on a substantial custom-made display stand.

German art market.
European private collection, 1970s-early 2000s.
Acquired from the above; thence by descent.
Private collection, London, UK.

Accompanied by an academic report by Dr Raffaele D’Amato.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.12176-221443.

Cf. Racinet, A., The complete costume history, from ancient times to 19th century, Köln, 2003, pp.52-53, nos.23 and 36; 76-77, nos.10, 24, 38, 44 for similar footwear; Sebesta, J.L., and Bonfante, L., The World of Roman Costume, Madison, 2001; a similar type of footwear appears on a Roman bronze statue, today in Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio, acc. no. 1986.5, believed to portray Emperor Marcus Aurelius in the guise of a simple itinerant philosopher rather than as a general or a nobleman; another example appears on a huge statue from the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, British Museum accession no.1857,1220.232, reconstructed from more than seventy fragments recovered from the site.

The detailed bronze foot with a possible variant of the Greek trochades sandal, known to be a traveller's sandal, is all that remains of the once monumental statue. The trochades was a sturdy traveller's open boot of Greek origin with a flat sole. In the Consular Age it was also used by officers and guardsmen. Roman sandals consisted usually of a leather sole attached to the foot with interlacing thongs.