Wender·Vista
Anyang
shown on ceramic, 12-inch tilePeople's Republic of China
on the Henan plain north of the Yellow River

Anyang

— — the ground the first Chinese writing came out of.

— Where it lives

Not only on a wall.

A small tile on the nightstand catching the morning. A larger one above the fire. Yours, wherever you spend the slow hours.
— On the nightstand, a 6-inch on a walnut stand
— Among the books, a 6-inch leaning into the spines
— Beside the kettle, a 12-inch propped
— Down a quiet hall, an 18-inch floating off the wall
— Above the fire, the 24-inch in a walnut surround
— a note from the studio

“A working prefecture city in northern Henan, set on the loess plain a short drive north of the Yellow River. Anyang is where the late Shang kings kept their capital, and where farmers in 1899 began turning up the inscribed ox-scapulae that became the oracle-bone archive. The Yinxu ruins on the western edge of town have been a UNESCO site since 2006. — from the studio

from the studio
Anyang
— bring it home

Anyang, on ceramic.

Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.

What kind of piece?
One tile — square or rectangle.
How big?
the popular one — counter, shelf, nightstand
6 × 6 in · 15 cm · 1.6 lb
Surface finish
A clear glossy finish — the artwork reads as if under resin. Ideal for show-pieces and framed wall art.
How it sits
A hidden cleat — sits ¼″ proud of the wall.
$58
Hand-finished and shipped from our studio at the foot of the Smokies. On your wall in about ten days.
— size
6 × 6 in
15 cm
— weighs
1.6 lb
solid in the hand
— surface
ceramic, hand-finished
art rests beneath a thin glossy finish
— from
Knoxville, TN
our family studio, at the foot of the Smokies
— start a Coaster Set

Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.

— about Anyang

The place, in three passes.

A little of what's known, in case you fall down the rabbit hole — or want to go see it yourself.
— the place

Anyang is a prefecture-level city in the north of Henan province, on the loess plain a short distance north of the Yellow River and close to the borders of Hebei and Shanxi. Its built-up area sits around 75 metres above sea level on the alluvial flats of the Huan River, a tributary of the Wei. The 2020 census recorded a prefectural population of about 5.4 million, with roughly 2.3 million in the urban districts. Beijing lies about 480 kilometres to the north-east; Zhengzhou, the provincial capital, about 190 kilometres south.

— informed by Wikipedia — Anyang
— the stone

On the western edge of the city, the Yinxu ruins mark the last capital of the Shang dynasty, occupied from roughly 1300 to 1046 BCE. The site was identified after farmers near Xiaotun village began turning up inscribed ox-scapulae and turtle plastrons in 1899; systematic excavation began in 1928 under Academia Sinica. More than 150,000 oracle bones have been recovered, carrying the earliest substantial corpus of written Chinese. UNESCO inscribed Yinxu on the World Heritage List in 2006.

— the visit

The Yinxu Museum and the adjoining tomb of Fu Hao, a Shang queen and military commander buried around 1200 BCE, are open daily on the city's western side. The new National Museum of Chinese Writing, opened in 2009, sits closer to the centre and traces the script from oracle bone through bronze inscription to modern hanzi. Anyang's railway station is on the Beijing-Guangzhou trunk line and the parallel high-speed corridor, putting Zhengzhou under an hour away and Beijing under three.

— where
People's Republic of China · Anyang, Henan
— elevation
75 m · 246 ft
— position
36.0997° N · 114.3878° E
— the neighborhood

What's nearby.

A handful of named places within an hour's walk or short drive. Some we've already painted; some we will.
3 km W
Yinxu
archaeological site
3 km W
Tomb of Fu Hao
Shang tomb
1 km N
Wenfeng Pagoda
Tang-Liao pagoda
70 km S
Yellow River
river
N
Anyang
Yinxu
Tomb of Fu Hao
Wenfeng Pagoda
Yellow River
— common questions

What people ask.

A few questions we get about Anyang — and about bringing the piece home.
— about the place

In the north of Henan province, China, on the loess plain a short distance north of the Yellow River. It sits about 480 kilometres south-west of Beijing and 190 kilometres north of the provincial capital, Zhengzhou.

It is the site of Yinxu, the last capital of the Shang dynasty (around 1300 to 1046 BCE), and the place where the oracle-bone script — the earliest substantial corpus of written Chinese — was first identified in 1899.

The archaeological remains of the late Shang capital on Anyang's western edge. UNESCO inscribed Yinxu in 2006. The site includes palace foundations, royal tombs, bronze foundries, and the oracle-bone pits dug by Academia Sinica from 1928.

A consort of King Wu Ding and a Shang military commander, buried near Yinxu around 1200 BCE. Her tomb, excavated intact in 1976, held more than 1,900 grave goods including bronzes, jades, and the oracle bones that named her.

A national-level museum in Anyang, opened in 2009, that traces the Chinese script from oracle bone through bronze and seal scripts to modern hanzi. It complements the Yinxu site on the city's western side.

The Beijing-Guangzhou trunk railway and its parallel high-speed line both stop at Anyang. Zhengzhou is under an hour by high-speed train and Beijing under three. The nearest major airport is Zhengzhou Xinzheng.

— about the piece in your home

It has been a meaningful gift for families with roots in Henan and for readers drawn to early Chinese history. A Coaster or Small with a short note from the studio sits well on a desk or a study shelf.

Quiet scholar-room and study walls, calligraphy collections, and rooms built around brushwork and dark wood. The piece reads well in Minimalist Asian, Japandi, and warm-toned traditional rooms.

Yes. Study-room curation around early scripts and archaeological sites has been growing alongside the broader interest in classical East Asian art. A Medium above a desk anchors the wall without crowding the books.

A single Large carries a long wall on its own. Above a wide sectional, a four-tile Mural reads better; for a dedicated feature wall, the nine-tile Mural is the right call.

Yes. Order in Dura Satin for a soft scratch-resistant sheen or Matte for no sheen at all. Both finishes hold up in humid rooms and wipe clean with a damp microfibre.

Yes. Every WenderVista tile is painted in the studio's house visual language and hand-finished in Knoxville, Tennessee. No outside licensing, no third-party prints — one studio, one eye.

— if this one stayed with you

A few you might also love.

Hand-picked by the eye that found Sorapis. Same air, same kind of quiet.