Roman designers often incorporated the soothing sight and sound of running water into public and private architectural monuments. This small three-niche fountain most likely adorned a luxurious private house. Although scaled for an intimate setting, it is nevertheless a sophisticated composition that recalls the great public fountains built in Rome and throughout the empire.

The central niche is occupied by Nilus, the personification of the river Nile, who reclines against a now-headless sphinx and holds a fragmentary cornucopia; the river running through Egypt was famous for its annual fertilizing flood, making Nilus a symbol of abundance and wealth and even a metaphor for generous patronage. Water emerged from a slot beneath the god, first into a smaller basin and then into a larger one below. Water also flowed out through holes below the two side niches, which would once have contained statuettes, probably representing the nymphs Memphis and Anchirrhoë (or Anchinoë), the daughters of Nilus; jets of water would have spouted from jars they held. The palm trees carved on the outside walls of the side niches would have complemented the Egyptianizing statuary and evoked the exotic ambience of the Nile, a source of endless fascination for the Romans.

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