People have always been fascinated by the exquisite precision and flexibility of the human hand. When hand meets object, we confront the overlapping worlds of sensorimotor and cognitive functions. The complex apparatus of the human hand is used to reach for objects, grasp and lift them, manipulate them, and use them to act on other objects. This review examines what is known about the control of the hand by the cerebral cortex. It compares and summarizes results from behavioral neuroscience, electrophysiology, and neuroimaging to provide a detailed description of the neural circuits that facilitate the formation of grip patterns in human and nonhuman primates.