What ancient sculpture of a sleeping intersex figure is in the Louvre?

The ancient sculpture of a sleeping intersex figure in the Louvre is the Sleeping Hermaphroditus.

The marble presents Hermaphroditus, a figure from Greek and Roman mythology who combined masculine and feminine attributes. The statue is shown reclining on a mattress, with the viewer discovering its sexual ambiguity from the opposite side. Its pose draws on traditions of reclining Venus figures and other idealized female nudes.

The work is an ancient Roman marble, often described as a copy of a Hellenistic prototype. It was found in Rome in 1618 near Santa Maria della Vittoria and entered Cardinal Scipione Borghese’s collection. Gian Lorenzo Bernini later carved the distinctive marble mattress, completed in 1620.

A common mix-up is the name: “Sleeping Hermaphrodite” and “Sleeping Hermaphroditus” refer to the same celebrated subject, while “Borghese Hermaphrodite” identifies its former collection. France acquired this version in the Napoleonic period, and it reached the Louvre in 1809.