Another grouping of four antique Chinese stoneware utilitarian vessels, circa 1860-1930 AD. One dark brown glazed stoneware soy sauce jar / jug with spout, one Wing Lee Wai liqour bottle with flared rim. ginger jar, and one large flower pot / vase decorated with characters on one side and a bird resting on flowering branches on the other. All four were collected in California in the 1970s and 1980s. Ginger jar and soy jar with spout have concave bottoms with typical imperfections from firing. Vase has a footed pedestal base with a central drain hole. Fluter soy jar has raised lettering on base and side. Base reads "WING LEE WAI HONG KONG. Side lettering reads "FEDERAL LAW FORBIDS SALE OR RE-USE OF THIS BOTTLE".

Dimensions - Soy Jar with spout - 5 1/4" H x 5 3/4" diameter, Liquor Jar with flared rim - 6" high x 4 1/2" diameter, Ginger jar - 4 1/4" high x 4 1/2" diameter, vase 10" high x 6" diameter at shoulder. 

China is recognized as the origin of the world’s longest and most diverse ceramic tradition. Scholars and collectors typically focus on elaborate decorated porcelain and imperial ware made for the elite classes. Chinese utilitarian ceramics, produced for day-to-day use, are an important part of this longstanding heritage. Items such as food storage jars, headrests, stools and hat stands are a few of the many practical forms that have evolved over the centuries. These wares are wheel thrown or molded from both low-fire earthenware and high-fire stoneware or porcelain, and are sometimes embellished with auspicious symbols, geometric designs, images of flowers, birds, animals, or children. 

Many durable wares, such as teapots, storage jars and bowls, accompanied nineteenth and twentieth-century Chinese emigrants to the United States and were used in Chinatowns, Gold Rush era mining camps and railroad camps.

Because of this, California has served as a rich depository of Shiwan ceramics from the province of Guangdong since the 1850s, when many Chinese settlers relocated from the southern region of China formerly known as Canton.

With an auspicious Chinese name which stands for “eternal fortune and fame”, the 140 year old Wing Lee Wai is one of the oldest businesses in Hong Kong, operating out of its base at 124 Wing Lok Street in Sheung Wan since 1905. It was one of the largest Chinese wine distilleries in China with branches in Tientsin, Shanghai, Canton, Macau and Kiangmen in China and overseas branches in Penang, Singapore and San Francisco in the 1920s through 40s.