Jade and bronze were chosen early in China' s history as the materials for society' s most precious objects. The main reason for this is very straightforward. Both materials are beautiful to the eye and, in the case of jade, also to the touch. Jade is a dense stone that can be ground to smooth, soft surfaces and glows in subtle greens, grays, and browns. Bronze, an alloy of tin and copper, is a light, bright gold color when polished.

Jade was employed (c. 4500B.C.) for exceptionally elegant versions of utilitarian stone tools; bronze was the choice (c. 1650 B.C.) for the highest-quality cooking pots. Made in jade, the tools were not for daily use but for displays of status and power, and the bronze cooking pots were not for ordinary meals but were reserved for offerings of food and wine to ancestors. Jade and bronze were thus used for special ritual or ceremonial versions of standard everyday items.

The materials themselves were scarcer and required more labor to work than ordinary stone and ceramic. That this was the case must have been as clear in the past as it is today and must have marked the objects as in some way exceptional. Not only the materials but also the ways in which they were worked demonstrated their exalted functions jade scepters (ceremonial obJects of various shapes that were carried by influential people as symbols of authority) were ground more thinly than the stone tools they copied, such as axes or reaping knives. Had they been used to chop down a tree, they would have broken. Bronze cooking pots were made in intricate forms, with extra knobs and handles and dense decoration all of which would have been impracticable on everyday ceramics.

There would be no point in using these scarce and labor-intensive materials in place of common ones if they could not be immediately recognized as outstanding. Craftsmanship was therefore directed toward exploiting and displaying the particular qualities of jade and bronze that make them recognizahly different from ordinary stone and ceramic. These qualities had to be made visually noticeable. Other qualities, such as weight or texture, can only be appreciated by holding the object, and fewer people will have the opportunity to pick it up and feel its features with their hands than will be able to glance at it quickly.

Visual distinctions deployed to separate the ceremonial from the everyday can also be used to refer to smaller differences in the ranking of ritual items, separating those owned by kings from those owned by nobles. Such differences can be in size or mass-one piece being larger or thicker than another—or in skill, with one being better crafted than another. We make such Judgments when looking at ancient obJects today, and it seems likely that some sort of similar assessment was made at the time.

Two hierarchies, both visible to the eye, were thus achieved. First and most fundamental was a hierarchy of function, the ritual object standing above the everyday object Second was the hierarchy within each category, with the more elaborately worked and often larger obJect higher up the scale. The rich and powerful owned the jade scepters and bronze vessels. What is more, these scepters and vessels not only expressed or reflected the status of their owners but they also probably reinforced it. In this way, jades and bronzes became bound up with the religious and political structures of the early Chinese state, and they remained so linked up to the twentieth century.

It is therefore not surprising that at times when rulers and their courts wished to assert their authority, they commissioned large numbers of conspicuous bronzes. Further, when they wished to distract attention from weaknesses in society, they emphasized their power even more by increasing expenditure on ritual obJects. Thus changes in the aesthetic qualities of jades and bronzes can inform us about the society that produced them.

Later generations of Chinese scholars of the Song Dynasty (A.O. 960-1279) quickly recognized the link between the bronzes and jades and political power. In their search for political legitimacy, they collected and studied ancient artifacts, pursuits that in themselves reinforced the high status of jade and bronze in society. From the idea that political power resided in ancient objects, including calligraphy and painting, grew the first art collections.