The “Sandalbinder” Nike

Details of the original: culture/period: Classical Greek, production date: ca. 410 BC, production place: made in: Athens (Greece), excavated/findspot: Greece: Attica: Athens: Acropolis: Temple of Athena Nike, materials: marble from Penteli, category: architectural sculpture, dimensions: H: 1.06m, W: 0.52m, D: 0.22m, museum: Acropolis Museum, producer name: attributed to Agorakritos' workshop.

A small marble ionic temple in Acropolis of Athens is dedicated to Athena Nike, one of goddess Athena's aspects. Around 410 BC a marble parapet was built in the temple along the bastion's three sides for safety reasons. This parapet was decorated with slabs that came to light when the Turkish wall into which members of the temple of Nike were incorporated was being dismantled. The slabs are approximately one meter in height whose outer surfaces were decorated with relief scenes visible by those ascending the Acropolis. Most of the slabs have been lost, but from the few we have the theme of the decor is clear: Carved winged Nike (Victory) figures leading bulls to be sacrificed or adorn Persian victory trophies before the dominant seated Athena. The aerial figures with transparent clothes clinging to the body as if they were wet, are highly representative of the end of the 5th c. BC style, the so called "rich style".

The slab representing a Victory (Nike) adjusting her sandal was among the first to be disinterred. The inspired artist, cleverly interposes this moment, in order maybe to soften and enliven the seriousness and solemnity of the procession. The youthful body, which is outlined in detail under the almost delicate fabric, and the rich billowing folds of the mantles pleat, refold, wave and curve in a thousand ways, while her face, no longer preserved, is framed by her wings.

Many scholars acknowledge that a group of six sculptors worked on the parapet under the supervision of Agorakritos, among whom they recognise Paionios and Kallimachos. Agorakritos was a sculptor from the island of Paros who was active during the second half of the 5th cent. BC. He was a pupil and collaborator of Pheidias and participated in the sculptural decoration of the Parthenon.