Auguste Ledru (1860-1902) was a pupil of Dumont, Bonnassieux, Thomas and Boisseaux and he made his debut at the Salon of 1883. Although he can be regarded as a sculptor, his career was principally involved with the decorative arts, designing vases, cups, dinner services and ornamental fountains in plaster, bronze and pewter.

The firm of Susse Frères, which was one of the largest and most successful French bronze foundries in the latter half of the 19th century, manufactured this Ledru-designed vase. It is of patinated bronze, with marine and erotic imagery, cast and applied in high relief. The fully modelled figure of a reclining female nude rests on a rock surrounded by a bed of seaweed. Her face is tilted upwards, her hair tied behind in a chignon, her two arms swept backwards, the right supported on a rock while the left is clutching the trailing tentacle of a large octopus, her left knee is raised and extends over the right thigh. Around the figure and across the surface of the vase are swirling waters, seething with three finned fish and a large octopus clinging to the neck in high relief. The head of the octopus protrudes above the upper rim, its tentacles wrap around the throat of the vessel.