Castor and Pollux were the twin sons of Zeus (the meaning of their name 'Dioskouroi', or 'Dioscuri') and Leda. They are also known as the Heavenly Twins, the brightest stars marking the heads of the twins in the constellation of Gemini, and they can be identified on this relief by the stars over their heads.

The focus of this bronze relief is Pollux, standing in the centre. He holds the sceptre of Aesculapius, the ancient god of medicine, a distinctive rod with a snake curled around it. Pollux is driving away winged Death, cowering and recoiling on the left. The relief may have been commissioned in response to the recovered health of a relative or friend - perhaps depicted as the lady swooning on the right.

This relief is a collaborative work with three names, along with an indication of their respective roles, incised along its edge. The antiquarian Baron de Tott, a draughtsman, French military officer and well-travelled diplomat, conceived the composition. The relief was then modelled by Louis-Jacques Pillon. Pillon restored garden sculpture at Versailles at the end of his life but little is known about him otherwise. It was cast by the famous founder Pierre-Philippe Thomire, who was particularly admired for his gilt bronzes. The surface of this bronze is masterly, and almost painterly in places in the subtlety of its texture.

All of these three men had an association with the great French sculptor Augustin Pajou (1730-1809) who presented a plaster relief of exactly this subject at the Salon of 1783. Perhaps Pillon (who referred to himself on occasion as Pajou's pupil) based this relief on Pajou's work. This would account for the very high quality of this work, ostensibly by a fairly obscure sculptor.