Wine Flask (Bian Hu), Han dynasty (206 B.C.–A.D. 220), 1st century B.C./A.D. Bronze with incised decoration, 22.5 × 26.3 × 8.3 cm. Lucy Maud Buckingham Collection, 1937.122 © Art Institute of Chicago

This unusual variation of the canteen-shaped container is lightly chiseled with a combination of geometric patterns, birds, and gazelle-like creatures. The distinctive technique and style of surface decoration seen on this vessel associate it with bronzes excavated in far southern China, near modern Vietnam. Under occupation by Han rulers, bronze foundries in this frontier area produced intriguing bronzes in which Chinese styles are blended with those of the native, non-Chinese tribes.