This ivory relief is German or possibly Netherlandish, made in about 1850-1900. The style is reminiscent of Ignaz Elhafen, but the putti and the figures are closer to the work of Netherlandish masters, such as François Du Quesnoy or Lucas Faydherbe (1617-1697). It is comparable in style with the relief of a Nymph and Satyr in the Louvre, Paris. The general rough quality and apparent mixture of styles suggests that this is in fact a nineteenth century fake, made in imitation of earlier seventeenth-century reliefs.
The relief represents the childhood of Jupiter. Jupiter was the son of Saturn, who devoured his children fearing they would usurp him. Jupiter's mother thus fled to Crete to give birth to Jupiter in a cave. Jupiter was brought up at the Cretan Mount Ida by nymphs and he was fed on wild honey and milk from the goat Amalthea.