Wender·Vista
Mount Gongga
shown on ceramic, 12-inch tilePeople's Republic of China
in the Hengduan range, west of Chengdu

Mount Gongga

— — the sharp white above the cloud line.

— 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

“The highest peak in Sichuan at 7,556 metres, and the easternmost of the great snow summits of high Asia. Known to Tibetans as Minya Konka. The mountain rises sharply from the Dadu River gorge, with about 6,500 metres of relief from valley floor to summit. An American expedition briefly mistook it for the highest mountain in the world in 1929. — from the studio

from the studio
Mount Gongga
— bring it home

Mount Gongga, 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 Mount Gongga

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

Mount Gongga stands at 7,556 metres in the Daxue Shan subrange of the Hengduan Mountains, in western Sichuan Province. It is the highest peak in Sichuan and one of the highest mountains outside the greater Himalaya and Karakoram. The summit lies about 100 kilometres west of Kangding, the seat of the Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. The mountain anchors the Gongga Shan National Nature Reserve, established in 1997 and covering roughly 4,000 square kilometres of glacier, fir forest, and high meadow.

— informed by Wikipedia
— the air

The summit rises about 6,500 metres above the Dadu River gorge to the east, one of the steepest relief profiles on earth. The mountain holds 71 glaciers covering roughly 255 square kilometres, including the Hailuogou Glacier on the eastern flank that descends to 2,850 metres, among the lowest-reaching glaciers in monsoon Asia. The air below the summit ridge clears most reliably in October and November, after the monsoon withdraws and before winter storms close the high passes.

— the visit

The mountain is reached from Kangding, on the Sichuan-Tibet Highway, about 350 kilometres west of Chengdu by paved road. The Hailuogou Glacier Park, on the eastern flank, has a road head, a cable car, and three terraced glacier viewing platforms. Climbing the peak requires a permit from the Sichuan Mountaineering Association; technical difficulty and avalanche risk keep summit success rates very low. The classic horseshoe trek around the eastern flanks runs from Laoyulin to Caoke and takes about a week.

— informed by Wikipedia
— where
People's Republic of China · Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan
— within
Gongga Shan National Nature Reserve
— elevation
7,556 m · 24,790 ft
— position
29.5953° N · 101.8800° 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.
60 km NE
Kangding
prefectural seat
15 km E
Hailuogou Glacier
monsoon glacier
50 km NE
Yajiageng Pass
mountain pass
12 km W
Konka Gompa
Tibetan monastery
25 km E
Dadu River
river gorge
N
Mount Gongga
Kangding
Hailuogou Glacier
Yajiageng Pass
Konka Gompa
Dadu River
— common questions

What people ask.

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

The summit reaches 7,556 metres, making Gongga the highest peak in Sichuan Province and the highest in the Hengduan Mountains. It is the easternmost of the world's 7,000-metre peaks.

Minya Konka is the Tibetan name. Minyak is the historic name for the local Tibetan kingdom; Konka means snow peak. Gongga is the Mandarin Chinese transliteration of the same name.

Briefly. An American expedition in 1929 estimated its height at over 9,000 metres, which would have surpassed Everest. Better triangulation soon corrected the figure to its actual 7,556 metres.

A four-person American expedition led by Richard Burdsall and Terris Moore reached the summit on 28 October 1932. Fewer than thirty people have summited since, and several attempts have ended in fatalities.

Yes. Gongga is one of the most important sacred mountains in Kham, the eastern Tibetan cultural region. Pilgrims circumambulate the massif on the long kora through Konka Gompa, a route that takes about ten days on foot.

The Hailuogou Glacier Park, on the eastern side, has paved road access from Chengdu and viewing platforms onto the lower glacier. The classic massif view comes from the Yajiageng pass, west of Kangding, in clear October weather.

— about the piece in your home

Yes. Gongga is the defining peak of the Sichuan high country, and climbers who have spent time around Kangding or the Hailuogou Glacier recognise its profile instantly. A Medium or Large carries the relief well.

The treatment in glacier blues and stone greys reads with Alpine Modern, Japandi, and Mountain Modern interiors. It anchors a wall painted in deep slate or matte ivory without competing with the architecture.

Yes. Single-peak wall art is the quiet anchor of current Alpine Modern and Mountain Modern rooms from Telluride to Hakuba. The stained-glass treatment gives the snow ridge contemporary colour without leaning on photographic realism.

A single Large reads well above a console. Above a full sofa, a four-tile Mural or nine-tile Mural carries the vertical relief of the peak. The Medium suits a study or hallway.

Yes, with the Dura Satin or Matte finish. Both are scratch-resistant and rated for vertical installation in wet rooms. Glossy is reserved for framed wall pieces away from steam.

Microfibre cloth and water. The colour is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, beneath a thin protective finish, so it will not fade or lift with normal cleaning.

Yes. Every piece in the WenderVista atlas is curated and finished by Reid Wender in the Knoxville studio. We do not license imagery from outside artists.

— 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.