A three-hundred- year-old Chinese shopping list has been unearthed in an 18th century vase during the winter cleaning at Fairfax House.

The ancient discovery was made while the house, which is closed to the public every January, was being cleaned before the start of the new season.

Peter Musgrove, co-ordinater of the winter cleaning programme, who discovered the find, said the Chinese vase had been in Fairfax House since it first opened nearly 25 years ago.

He said: "In recent years, due to its fragile state, the vase has been kept in the store room. I took it out to clean and heard a rattling in the bottom of the vase. I gently poked a stick inside and drew out a piece of rice paper with black ink Chinese writing."

Peter Brown, director at Fairfax House, has shown this document to a Chinese student from the University of York who said it was the remains of an artist's shopping list with the costs of pigments, which were, presumably, needed to decorate the vase.

The paper, which is very delicate, has been conserved and is to be sent away for further analysis.