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.
