The original of this work was a fountain figure unearthed in the garden of the House of the Centenary in Pompeii. The water would have spurted from the wineskin into a fountain basin. This work is derived from a Greek prototype of the Hellenistic period and is typical of Pompeiian garden sculpture. Although the QAG acquisition form lists it as a cast found in Pompeii in 1748, the House of the Centenary was not discovered until 1879. The cast was probably made in the 19th century and was then deliberately aged or placed outside for some time. The base was placed on the sculpture at a later date.