Orwell and Chinese Ginger Jars
Posted: January 30th, 2014 | No Comments »As regular readers will know this blog is nothing if not dedicated to the more obscure references to China. And here’s a candidate for most obscure posting to date perhaps. I realise that I just missed the anniversary of George Orwell’s death in 1950 (21st January) but felt a post in his honour always something worth doing. Who knew that Orwell liked to mooch around junk shops in 1940s London and, among other things, seek out Chinese ginger jars? I didn’t and I’m a massive fan of the bloke! Writing in the London Evening Standard in 1946 Orwell wrote in his essay Just Junk – But Who Could Resist It? of some of the treasure he encountered while rummaging:
‘…a medley of bamboo cake-stands, Britannia-ware dish covers, turnip watches, dog-eared books, ostrich eggs, typewriters of extinct makes, spectacles without lenses, decanters without stoppers, stuffed birds, wire fire guards, bunches of keys, boxes of nuts and bolts, conch shells from the Indian Ocean, boot trees, Chinese ginger jars and pictures of Highland cattle.’
So here’s some Chinese ginger jars for Orwell…I think he would have liked them…
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