a dog to guard your moisturizer

Walters Art Museum [Public domain, CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons

This pyxis (lidded vessel) from Greece dates from the 4th century BC.  A pyxis was for the most part a useful little box such as I have in my own drawer, full of my earrings - but mine is absolutely not as fancy as this.  This could have held cosmetics, jewelry, anything small that you needed to grab.  Other areas of this box show a bull and a griffin, so I'm being flip and choosy to say this handsome fellow is guarding your facegoop - but his playful alertness makes me wake up a bit this morning, and a bit more ready to face the day.  The bull and griffin are beautiful too.  You can see them in the additional views of this piece at the Walters Art Museum's online collection.