This charming container for scented oil is made of faience, a material first developed in Egypt during the early third millennium B.C. For approximately one hundred years production of such small containers flourished at Naucratis, a trading emporium founded by the Greeks in the late seventh century B.C., and at other eastern Mediterranean sites, including Rhodes.

Many of these vases take the form of an animal—fish, goat, rabbit, monkey, even grasshopper—but the most common and perhaps most successful type represents the hedgehog. This is a particularly large and fine example. Its compact, rounded body is well suited to a vessel: the forepaws rest firmly on the base, and the face, surrounded by a ruff of spines, has an alert expression, a snub-nosed snout, and wide-open eyes. The body is covered with cross-hatching punctuated with purple-black dots to indicate the spines. An Egyptianizing, sphinxlike head emerges on top of the back, just in front of the mouth and handle of the vessel. This may have been an amusing parody, for the tiny outstretched forepaws of the hedgehog and its large ruff also bring to mind the reclining leonine form of the Egyptian sphinx.