Chinese Jar Donated by Mike Falvey

Oct 17, 2018 by contributor

A small, elegant Chinese jar –found in the early 1970s during construction of Moke Hill’s Shutter Tree Park – has been donated to the Mokelumne Hill History Society by Mike Falvey.  During grading for the park, thousands of broken artifacts were unearthed, remnants of the Chinese store and dwellings that once occupied the site.  The small jar found by Mike was a rare unbroken item, and he treasured it for decades.  The ceramic was manufactured in China and likely once contained a condiment such as soy paste or fermented bean curd  shipped to the Chinatowns of California.  It is made of stoneware with a partial brown glaze and stands 4.75 inches tall.  Two delicate handles sit on opposite sides below the rim, providing a place to tie down the ceramic lid.  Although many types of Chinese stoneware jars have been found in archaeological excavations, the form and style of this little jar is quite unusual.  Thank you, Mike, for giving the History Society and town this wonderful piece of our past.