Two fragments from a woman’s statue identified with Iris, the gods’ winged messenger. The first comes from her shoulder, the second from her left shoulder-blade. The goddess was portrayed next to Amphitrite's chariot (Ακρ. 954) running to the viewer’s left where the contest between Athena and Poseidon took place. She wore a sleeveless chiton and himation that was wrapped around her left arm. Iris possibly raised her right hand whereas with her left she may have held a band that she would tie around the winner’s head.

The fragments have been adjusted to the plaster cast of the original torso kept today in the British Museum in London after it was removed by Thomas Bruce, lord of Elgin, who was in Greece between 1801-1804 when the country was under Ottoman rule, and forcibly detached most of the sculptures of the pediment still in their original position. The head is also made of plaster as the prototype, also known as the “Laborde head” is housed in the Louvre Museum in Paris.

The west pediment of the Parthenon portrays the dispute between Athena and Poseidon regarding who would become the divine protector of Athens. The contest was held on the Acropolis in the presence of the city’s mythical kings Kekrops and Erechtheus and other local heroes, who as judges decided the outcome in favour of Athena, preferring her gift, the olive tree, to the salty water offered by Poseidon. The centre of the scene is occupied by the two protagonists and their chariots whereas the pediments' corners contain the personifications of two rivers that flowed in ancient Athens, Ilissos and Kephissos. Due to the misadventures suffered by the monument over the following centuries many sculptures have been lost, some survive in mutilated form whereas others are represented only in small fragments.

The two Parthenon pediments are adorned with about fifty oversized statues. The sculptures, perfectly worked even on their unseen, rear sides, present scenes from the myths of the goddess Athena.