Those in the economic elite of Ming China surrounded themselves with exquisite objects practical only in that they brought pleasure on sight and marked the social worth of the possessor. The author examines the period's Treatise on Superfluous Things and compares its approach with the conspicuous consumption of eighteenth-century England, tracing the subtleties of changes wrought in both societies by the acquisition and display of commercial beauty. Here he reissues his 1991 book with a new preface that analyzes recent scholarship in the field. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)