YORK A shopping list written about 300 years ago has been discovered by a cleaner in an 18th-century Chinese vase in Britain. The Chinese list was found inside a vase at Fairfax House in York, Northern England.
The vase has been in the house, which claims to be the finest Georgian townhouse in England, since it opened nearly 25 years ago. It closes for cleaning every January.
The director of Fairfax House showed the find to a Chinese student at the University of York who said it was the remains of a decorator’s shopping list, detailing the pigments needed to decorate the vase.