This fragment is of colossal size with the remains of a strap between the first and second toes. There are beginnings of drapery in two folded edges across the top, just behind the toes. The thick double-soles of the sandals are cut to follow the contour of the toes.The shape of this detached sandal is similar to a well known example in the Museo Capitolino¹ and a "Piede Sinistro di un Acrolito" in the Vatican Magazine². In other respects the foot is best compared with another one in the Capitolino³. These are likewise shod with thick-soled sandals, following the outline of the toes. The suggestion that the semi-smoothed back surface with dowel hole was made for fitting to a colossal draped statue would appear to apply likewise to this piece, although there is little trace here of the dowel hole remaining. For a statue demonstrating the method of attachment and the type of draped, female sculpture in which a part of a foot was joined separately, either as a labour-saving technical process or to vary the marble, compare Jones⁴.

This fragment is shown at the west end of the Colonnade in Soane's 1835 Description, plate XXVII, on the south side, in front of an architectural model on the base of the stand for the statue of Aesculapius.

¹ Jones, Cap., no. 34, pl. 43.
² Kaschnitz-Weinberg, VMC, p. 162, no. 348.
³ Jones, Cap., no. 60A, pl. 23.
⁴ Jones, Cap., p. 82, no. 1, pl. 17, Draped Female Figure with Modern Head of Faustina.

From the Collection of John Flaxman