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The body of the vessel consists of two jasper cups: the lower one is of very high quality, made in shiny dark green and brown jasper with golden highlights; the upper one has white, grey and red veining. The work has a circular foot with an elegant pod-shaped design that divides the surface into nine segments adorned by the heraldry of the Medici ball and the emblem of the ring with the diamond tip; similar flat patterns are also reproduced on the stem and the node. A silver band with a pod-decorated frame conceals the cup rims. The top, also in silver, has the emblem of the diamond tipped ring that encloses a sphere decorated by the balls of the Medici coat of arms, originally in red and blue enamel.
In the past the vessel's jasper parts were considered to be ancient, but they are now attributed, together with the mount, to a 15th-century Florentine workshop. The presence of the inscription "·LAV·R·MED·" on the lower cup confirms that the work was part of Lorenzo the Magnificent's collection, preserved in the family palace until the expulsion of the Medici from Florence in 1494, when many of the Laurentian treasures were dispersed.
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