Tripod Wine Vessel (Jia), Shang dynasty (c. 1600-c. 1050 B.C.), 12th/11th c. B.C. Bronze. 51.5 x 23.5 cm (20 1/4 x 9 1/4 in.). Lucy Maud Buckingham Collection, 1926.1599. The Art Institute of Chicago

The tautly elegant form and precise casting of animal imagery date this ritual vessel to the Shang, China's earliest dynasty to be verified by archaeological excavations. The Shang royal family commissioned such vessels for ceremonies of ancestor worship and later buried them in tombs. Cast from a mold assembly of finely carved, fired, and interlocked pieces of clay, this tripod exhibits extraordinary artistic imagination and technical cooperation by potters and metallurgists. Two tiers of monster masks encircle its flared bowl. Elongated versions of these masks, which may also be seen as paired serpents, descend the tapered legs. A bovine head with sculpted horns crowns the strap handle. Such vessels are the supreme artistic achievement of China's bronze age.