Sculptures featuring children, animals and playful subject matter were popular in Hellenistic times, and this group features all those elements. The sculpture has boy and bird pulling in opposite directions, but both with feet apart, forming a solid base for the pyramid-shaped composition. Several similar sculptures have been found in Rome, suggesting a famous prototype.

The Roman writer Pliny mentions a sculptor called Boethos who made a group of a boy and goose. However, as there was more than one sculptor of that name, and the chronology does not tally, it is doubtful that the prototype of this piece can be linked to that artist. The heads of the child and goose are both modern restorations