CHIA

Pinyin Jia, type of Chinese bronze vessel produced during the Shang (18th-12th century Bc ) and early Chou (1111-c. 900 BC) dynasties. It is a deep, cup-shaped vessel supported on three or four pointed, splayed legs. There is a vertical handle on the body and two small, capped, pillarlike additions on opposite sides of the circular rim. The function of the latter is uncertain, though possibly they served to suspend the vessel over a fire to heat the wine inside. The decoration is often simple, consisting usually of a t'ao-t'ieh (q.v.), or monster mask, on either side of the body. There may be a pottery predecessor in the Neolithic Period (c. 3000-1500 BC), shaped much like a li-ting (see ting), but the chia is generally unique to the bronze art of the Shang and early Chou periods.