China, 5000 years : innovation and transformation in the arts.

An Exhibition from the People's Republic of China Edited by Wen Fonf. Foreword by Philippe de Monebello . New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Fine Arts 1980, cm.23,5x30, pp.388 illustrato a colori. legatura editoriale cartonata con sopraccoperta figurata a colori. Nearly 4,000 years ago, the ancient Chinese made a discovery that would determine the course of their history and culture for two millennia?the alloy of tin and copper known as bronze. Bronze was used for tools and weapons and even musical instruments, but the Great Bronze Age of China has come down to us mainly in the ritual vessels that symbolized power and prestige for China's first three dynasties: the Xia, the Shang, and the Zhou. Passed on to successive conquerors, used to honor the ancestors, and buried?along with other grave goods and sacrificial victims or in storage pits by fleeing members of defeated dynasties?these exquisite bronzes reveal more about the character of life in ancient China than any other artifacts. As Chinese legend tells us, whoever held the bronze vessels held the power.