Porcelain Ginger Jars

Four intact examples of Chinese porcelain ginger jars of the Canton type were recovered from the "Blue China" shipwreck site. Like the two examples featured here, all four are missing their lids and date to the first half of the nineteenth century. The name “ginger jar” comes from the fact that similar containers were used for the export of large quantities of crystallized ginger (as well as other pickled food items) from China. Such containers were a popular export to Europe and America for much of the nineteenth-century.