shown on ceramic, 12-inch tilePeople's Republic of China

on China's southeast coast, where the Min River reaches the sea

Fuzhou

— — the city the banyans rooted into.

— 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

— 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

“Fuzhou is the old capital of Fujian, set inland from the Taiwan Strait where the Min River widens toward the coast. The city is named for Mount Fu but known for its banyans, the great spreading trees a Song-dynasty governor had planted along every street. A thousand years on they still hold the shade above Three Lanes and Seven Alleys.

from the studio

— bring it home

Fuzhou, 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 Fuzhou

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

Fuzhou sits at the mouth of the Min River on China's southeast coast, the provincial capital of Fujian and one of the country's earliest treaty ports. The metropolitan area holds roughly 8.3 million people, ringed by low mountains, with Drum Mountain to the east and Mount Qi to the west hemming the old city against the river for two millennia. The historic core, Three Lanes and Seven Alleys, preserves Ming and Qing courtyard houses across forty hectares near the city centre.

— informed by Wikipedia — Fuzhou

— the stone

Three Lanes and Seven Alleys (Sanfang Qixiang) is the oldest surviving residential quarter in urban Fuzhou, with whitewashed walls and grey-tiled roofs dating to the Tang and Song dynasties and built out under the Ming. Roughly two hundred preserved courtyard houses line the grid, several of them the former homes of nineteenth-century reformers, including Lin Zexu, the magistrate who burned the foreign opium stocks at Canton in 1839. The district was restored in the 2000s and added to UNESCO's tentative list in 2012.

— informed by Wikipedia — Three Lanes and Seven Alleys

— the air

Fuzhou's nickname, Rongcheng (the Banyan City), traces to a 1064 directive from Zhang Boyu, the prefect who ordered banyan trees planted along every public road. Many of those trees still stand, some with crowns spreading more than thirty metres above the lanes. The largest, on Mount Yu in the centre of the city, is around a thousand years old. Subtropical and humid, the climate keeps the canopy green through every season but the briefest winter.

— informed by Wikipedia — Fuzhou

— where

People's Republic of China · Fuzhou, Fujian

— position

26.0745° N · 119.2965° 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.

1 km center

Three Lanes and Seven Alleys

historic quarter

2 km S

Mount Yu

urban hill park

8 km E

Drum Mountain

mountain temple complex

20 km SE

Mawei

river port district

Fuzhou

Three Lanes and Seven Alleys

Mount Yu

Drum Mountain

Mawei

— common questions

What people ask.

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

— about the place

Fuzhou is the capital of Fujian Province, on the southeast coast of mainland China, where the Min River meets the Taiwan Strait. It sits roughly 200 kilometres north of Xiamen.

A Song-dynasty prefect, Zhang Boyu, ordered banyan trees planted along every road in 1064. Many of those trees still stand. The largest, on Mount Yu, is around a thousand years old.

It is the historic quarter at the centre of Fuzhou, about forty hectares of Ming and Qing courtyard houses, including the former home of the magistrate Lin Zexu. The district was restored in the 2000s.

Mandarin is the official language, but the local mother tongue is Fuzhounese (Foochow), a Min Dong variety with no mutual intelligibility with Mandarin. It is still spoken in older households and in the alleys.

October and November are the driest months. Summer is hot and humid with frequent typhoons off the strait. Winter is short and mild, rarely freezing, and the banyans hold their leaves.

— about the piece in your home

It has been a meaningful gift for our customers from the Fuzhounese diaspora, particularly in Southeast Asia and New York. A Small or Medium with a handwritten note from the studio carries well.

The deep jade and ink palette sits naturally in Chinoiserie, Modern Asian, and warm Maximalist rooms. It also reads well against natural wood and rattan in a Japandi setting.

For a standard three-seat sofa, a single Large reads at the right scale. Above a long console, a four-tile Mural carries the wall. For a feature room, a nine-tile Mural.

Yes, with the Dura Satin or Matte finish. The colour is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and the surface is scratch-resistant and steam-tolerant.

A microfibre cloth and a little water is enough. No solvents or abrasive cleaners. The colour lives in the surface, so it does not lift or fade with regular wiping.

Yes. Every piece is made in our Knoxville studio. Reid Wender is the curator. We do not license the work and do not reprint other artists.

— if this one stayed with you