A fine Chinese cast glass in the shape of a sacrificial vessel with cover. The glass is colourless and resembles the purity and brilliance of rock-crystal. Shaped by mould, the piece is elegantly decorated with figures of dragons in high relief, one of which serves as a handle, while two other dragons are arranged in the form of a circle on top of the lid. The vessel stands on three short feet. In China, vessels of a similar shape were often made in bronze since ancient times, particularly during the Shang dynasty, when they were used in rites performed on an ancestral altar or buried with the dead. This vessel therefore represents the artisan attempt to recreate and reinterpret these antique shapes and to give them new life through glass.