Kashgar
— — the last oasis before the mountains close.
Not only on a wall.
“An oasis city at the far western edge of the Taklamakan Desert, where the southern and northern arms of the old Silk Road meet again before crossing the Pamirs into Central Asia. Caravans rested here for two thousand years and the Sunday livestock market still draws traders from across the Tarim Basin. The Id Kah Mosque has held the western side of the central square since 1442. The old town's earth-walled lanes were the first thing every traveller mentioned, and most of them still are.
Kashgar, 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.
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.
The place, in three passes.
Kashgar, known in Uyghur as Qeshqer, sits at the western rim of the Tarim Basin in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China, about 1,289 metres above sea level. The city stands at the western end of the Taklamakan Desert, where the northern and southern branches of the historical Silk Road rejoined before crossing the Pamir Mountains toward Central Asia. The prefecture-level population is above four million, with the urban core holding several hundred thousand. Karakoram peaks rise to the south, and the Kyrgyz and Tajik borders lie within a few hours' drive.
The Id Kah Mosque has anchored the western side of the central square since 1442 and remains one of the largest congregational mosques in China, with a courtyard that holds an estimated 10,000 worshippers at the major feasts. North and east of the square, the old town's earth-walled lanes and timber-framed courtyard houses are the architectural signature of the city, much rebuilt in the early 2010s in a programme that preserved the street pattern while replacing the structures. The Sunday livestock market, held on the eastern edge of town, has run weekly for centuries and remains the largest of its kind in Central Asia.
Kashgar has a cold desert climate, with hot dry summers and cold dry winters at the base of the Pamir and Karakoram ranges. July daytime highs average around 33°C and January means sit a few degrees below freezing, with annual precipitation under 100 millimetres. Spring and autumn carry the strongest dust events out of the Taklamakan, and the clearest skies tend to follow the first frosts in October. The Karakoram Highway south toward the Pakistani border is open through summer and into autumn before snow closes the Khunjerab Pass at 4,693 metres.