This vase with its striking colour scheme was made from a stone fairly widespread in the Urals - Urazovo jasper, also known as "meat agate". The natural beauty of the stone is brought out by the simple shape of the vase that is almost devoid of ornamental embellishments. The intense dark-red colour with white veins is splendidly set off by magnificent gilded bronze decoration that was probably designed by the architect of the Kazan Cathedral Andrei Voronikhin. The superbly sculpted figures of two panthers resting their forepaws on the mouth of the vase underline the overall composition of the piece and form a single whole with the stone.
According to an old inventory, the vase was presented to Emperor Alexander I by by Actual Privy Councillor Dmitry Guryev, a senior statesman. Judging by Luigi Premazzi's watercolour, in the middle of the 19th century the vase stood in the same room as it does today.