130 - Hermes Propylaios. Hellenistic, 2nd–1st centuries B.C. White, fine-grained marble, height 20 cm. Almost fully three-dimensional head with a flattened back. Head of Hermes with a thick full beard that falls in long waves onto the chest. The hair is combed into corkscrew curls that are uniformly directed forward. Additional curls fall vertically down over the ears. A thick headband rests in the hair. Broken at the neck; the nose, beard, hair, and forehead are chipped. Provenance: From a private collection in Berlin. Ex Gorny & Mosch 239, 2016, 131; previously at Gorny & Mosch 231, 2015, 17; from a German family estate, in the family’s possession since ca. 1980. Ex Collection F.W. The piece is a scaled-down copy of the herma that stood at the Propylaea of the Acropolis in Athens. The copyist has slightly simplified the highly artificial hairstyle of the original and—likely for reasons of space—has largely concealed the ears beneath the hair. The original, created by Alkamenes around 430 B.C., is one of the first works of art to deliberately employ stylistic references to earlier periods. Created during the late High Classical period, Alkamenes draws on stylistic and iconographic features of the Archaic period to convey to the viewer the impression of a time-honored cult object. See M. Giercke, in: K. Stemmer (ed.), *Standorte: Context and Function of Ancient Sculpture*. Berlin Exhibition (1995), pp. 187–189, no. B48.