A mask from 1200 B.C. is part of the Kimbell's exhibit of art from Sichuan.

Treasures From a Lost Civilization: Ancient Chinese Art From Sichuan Kimbell Art Museum, 3333 Camp Bowie Blvd, FW. Sep 30-Jan 13. Tickets are $3-10. 817-332-8451

For most people, Chinese art conjures up images of silk-screen paintings, delicately carved jade and porcelain, and Ming vases in all their resplendently refined beauty. Well, not so fast. Treasures From a Lost Civilization: Ancient Chinese Art From Sichuan comes to Fort Worth courtesy of the Seattle Art Museum, and it shows a completely different side of Chinese art.

Sichuan is a landlocked province in southwestern China that until recently was known mostly for its distinctive style of cooking. Fifteen years ago, however, archeologists uncovered a treasure trove of art objects that led them to the remains of a large city that had flourished in the 12th century B.C. The inhabitants left few traces when they disappeared, and most historians had assumed that the area at that time had been a backwater.

The works in the exhibit tell us different, though they pose many questions. Where did the idea come from to make life-size statues of men and horses, at a time when they were being made nowhere else in China? What about those heavily stylized bronze heads and masks reminiscent of pre-Columbian or African art, some of them overlaid with gold foil? Vases from other parts of China are disciplined in their craftsmanship, but the vases here are baroque, with decorations (including elephant heads) piled on. Mysteriously, there are a number of renditions of trees and arboreal creatures. Historians can only guess at the use and significance of many of these objects, but they're fascinating artifacts of a people now vanished for 3000 years. Ponder over their beauty at the Kimbell Art Museum.