Hong Kong wine bottles

4421
L: 9,5 W: 9,5 H: 23
Ceramics
Hong Kong and Guangdong province, China
c1900-1950

Old, earthenware rice wine bottles from a Hong Kong brewery, straight model with narrow neck and mouth. Some have Chinese characters, some don’t. These are the last batch of unused bottles from this brewery. It was probably not “wine” as we know it, but a clear distilled liquid comparable to potent moonshine. Some have the words “Federal law forbids reuse or resale of this bottle”, an indication these bottles would be exported to America after the Prohibition, around 1934 to the mid 1960s.
The Wing Lee Wai company produced Chinese wine and spirits in China, Hong Kong and Macau. The twin storks on the bottle are a family crest and a mark of a clan of high standing.

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