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The God of Wine, Dionysos, and Herakles, his mortal half-brother, are engaged in a drinking contest. A maenad is playing the diaulos to the left, Silenos is watching the contest and apparently cheering for his foster son Dionysos on the right. Dionysos is shown reclining, his legs wrapped in a purple himation. He is holding his thyrsos and his left arm and is casually upturning the silver cup in his right to demonstrate that it is empty while Herakles is still shown drinking. Several empty silver cups are shown on the floor between them, next to a wine krater, to demonstrate that this contest has been going on for a while. Herakles is shown with his iconic lionskin and club but he is wearing vine and ivy in his hair as befitting such a Dionysian setting. He is depicted as a tan, bearded, masculine man while Dionysos is as pale as his maenad, a sign of feminity.