The vessel is a flask in the form of an antique urn made up of three pieces of agate and two gold mounts with diamonds and rubies. The handles, two monolithic volutes, emerge from two bearded masks, possibly representations of Silenus, and come to rest near the lip of the vessel. The lid has a lion’s head with a gold and ruby incrustation between its jaws. The round foot, possibly later, is joined to the body with a mount of rubies and diamonds set in rows. Gold leaves support the base of the bowl. Its delicate execution recalls other works attributed to Gasparo Miseroni or perhaps Girolamo. Similar pieces are preserved at the Musée du Louvre and at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.

Preserved on the base of the vessel is a label with an inscription specifying that it was a gift from the Dauphine to her husband, and identifying it with entry no. 59 in the inventory of the collection of Louis de Bourbon, drawn up in Versailles in 1689.

The mount on the foot, with a double row of leaves and rubies aligned with diamonds, has been missing since it was stolen in 1918. The state of the work in the 19th century can be seen through the photography of Juan Laurent y Minier, "Urne agate, montures d’or et argent avec émaux et pierreries, XVIe siècle, règne de Charles IX", c. 1879, Museo del Prado, HF0835/27 (L. Arbeteta, in press).