Good antique Italian alabaster bust of Hermes. Hermes, the herald of the Olympian gods, is the son of Zeus and the nymph Maia, daughter of Atlas and one of the Pleiades. Hermes is the god of shepherds, land travel, merchants, weights and measures, oratory, literature, athletics and thieves, and known for his cunning and shrewdness. Most importantly, he is the messenger of the gods. Besides that he was also a minor patron of poetry. He was worshiped throughout Greece -- especially in Arcadia -- and festivals in his honor were called Hermoea. The original full-figure of Hermes and the infant Dionysus reputed to be by Praxiteles who was working in the 4th century B.C. Is on display at the Olympia Archaeological Museum, Olympia, Greece. The statue was found, in 1877, during the excavation of the Temple of Hera.Italian circa 1890. The bust sits on the socle and is detachable and will rotate on the socle. This bust is the pair to the bust of Apollo. 14.5 inches high by 9.5 inches wide with 5 inch diameter socle (36.5 cm by 23.75 cm by 12.5 cm).