Unfinished Hermes from the West Necropolis.
As on other unfinished carvings from Aphrodisias, it is clear that the carver was working from the front of the block to the back, carving the subject first in two dimensions before working all the way around it. A series of measuring points are visible on the legs of this figure. These seem to have acted as reference points during the carving process but exactly how they were employed is unknown. Groups of three measuring points are quite common and they are often located on the thighs of the figure's being carved, suggesting that working out the exact proportions of this area was crucial to getting the rest of the figure correct.
