The exterior surface is decorated with a complex iconographic program celebrating the eternal cycle of life as played out in the primeval landscape of the Nile marshes. The main frieze presents three vignettes: a suckling calf, a mature bull, and a calf felled by a lion, together symbolizing birth, maturity, and death. Below this, a band of animated cranes represents the liberated soul in the afterlife. The decorative scheme is grounded by lotus petals at the base of the bowl and papyrus stalks on the stem, evoking the marsh where Egyptians believed all life began.

The chalice’s function was purely ritual. Its form and fragility indicate it was used not for drinking but for pouring sacred libations during funerary ceremonies. It was famously published in 1979 by Hans Wolfgang Müller, who argued it was part of a single find from the undiscovered tomb of Herihor, the High Priest of Amun who seized royal power at Thebes, founding the 21st Dynasty. While the direct association with Herihor’s other purported tomb goods is now debated by scholars, the chalice remains a key monument from this transitional period, exemplifying the continuity of New Kingdom artistic excellence and the use of royal iconography to legitimize new political authority.