The shape of this pyxis is very rare and has unusual banded decoration around the body. The painting on the cover is energetic and spirited; the painter has represented considerable anatomical detail on the figures, displaying the characteristic awkwardness of the period in rendering fully frontal faces and naked female bodies. The female figures have male proportions, particularly note the abdominal musculature of female B.

It is unusual to see women completely naked in a mixed drinking scene; these are presumably hetairae participating in the game of kottabos. Games were central to Athenian society and the kottabos was popular from the early 6th Century B.C. onwards. The game consisted of spinning a cup or kylix around the index finger and aiming the wine dregs, or even the cup itself, at a candelabrum or other metal target placed in the centre of the floor (the targets are not usually represented in vase-painting). Occasionally the targets could be small cups floating in a large water-filled cup and this was known as "sinking ships". The element of competition was key and, although originally the winner was rewarded with sweetmeats, eggs and cakes, there were sexual overtones to the game; in time, the winners came to be rewarded with sexual favours from youths or hetairae. For a discussion of pyxides, cf. S. R. Roberts, The Attic Pyxis, Chicago, 1978; for the game of kottabos, cf. Kunst der Schale, Kultur des Trinkeus, exhibition catalogue, Antikensammlungen München, 1990, pp. 272ff for an article by N. Hoesch