(1)Introduction...

     MASTERPIECE referred to a piece of work produced by an artworkers aspiring to become a master craftsman in the old European guild system.Their qualify that required for the  guild membership was judged then through their masterpiece, and if they were successful, it was retained by the guild. Great care was therefore taken to produce a fine piece in whatever the craft was, whether confectionery, painting, goldsmithing, knifemaking  or many other trades. The practice has continued in some modern academies of art.

Painting (masterpiece mosaic)

The word ‘masterpiece’ was taken from the Dutch "meesterstuk" or German "meisterstück", and the form "masterstik" is recorded in English in 1579 whereas "masterpiece" is first found in 1605, already outside a guild context, in a Ben Jonson play. "Masterprize" was another early variant in English.

In English the term rapidly became used in a variety of contexts for an exceptionally good piece of creative work, and was "in early use, often applied to man as the 'masterpiece' of God or Nature".

From modern English word ,it  refers to the best piece of work of creative artist or craftsman but it has come to be used to refer to any work seen to be of high quality, including non-creative works, luxury or rare goods of all kinds, and even mass-produced goods. The word has been adopted as the brand name for a range of watches by Rolex, toys by Transformers, cosmetics by Max factor and stuffed animals by Steiff