Wender·Vista
Basra
shown on ceramic, 12-inch tileIraq
in southern Iraq, on the Shatt al-Arab waterway where the Tigris and Euphrates meet

Basra

— — a port the date palms have always known.

— 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

“Basra sits at the head of the Persian Gulf, where the Tigris and Euphrates join into one slow waterway before reaching the sea. The city was founded in 636 as a garrison town and grew into one of the trading centres of the early Islamic world. The old shanasheel houses lean over the canals with carved wooden balconies. Heat presses down most of the year. Date palms hold the horizon. from the studio

from the studio
Basra
— bring it home

Basra, 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 Basra

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

Basra is the third-largest city in Iraq and its principal port, with a metropolitan population of roughly 2.6 million. It sits about 55 kilometres from the Persian Gulf on the Shatt al-Arab, the tidal waterway formed where the Tigris and Euphrates merge near Qurna. Founded in 636 CE under the second Rashidun caliph, Umar ibn al-Khattab, as a military garrison town, Basra became a centre of Arabic grammar, Mu'tazilite theology, and Indian Ocean trade during the Abbasid period.

— informed by Wikipedia — Basra
— the air

Basra is among the hottest cities on earth. In July 2016 the airport recorded 53.9 °C, one of the highest reliably measured temperatures in modern history, and summer afternoons routinely exceed 45 °C. The combination of Gulf humidity and inland heat makes the late afternoon air feel almost solid. Shade in the souks, fans on the river boats, and the date palms along the canals are how the city has shaped its days for centuries.

— the water

The Shatt al-Arab runs about 200 kilometres from Qurna to the Gulf and forms part of the border with Iran. It is fed by the Tigris, the Euphrates, and the Karun, and was once flanked by the largest date palm forest in the world — an estimated 17 million trees in the mid-twentieth century. The Iran-Iraq War and decades of upstream damming have thinned the groves, but the waterway still carries Basra's freight to Umm Qasr and the open sea.

— where
Iraq · Basra Governorate, Iraq
— position
30.5085° N · 47.7804° 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.
at the lake
Shatt al-Arab
tidal waterway
74 km N
Qurna
Tigris-Euphrates confluence town
50 km S
Umm Qasr
deep-water port
N
Basra
Shatt al-Arab
Qurna
Umm Qasr
— common questions

What people ask.

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

In southern Iraq, on the Shatt al-Arab waterway about 55 kilometres from the Persian Gulf. It is Iraq's third-largest city and its principal port, near the borders with Iran and Kuwait.

It was founded in 636 CE under the caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab as a garrison town, making it one of the earliest planned cities of the Islamic era. The current city has shifted somewhat from the original Abbasid-era site.

A tidal river formed where the Tigris and Euphrates meet at Qurna and flow about 200 kilometres to the Persian Gulf. It is fed further south by the Karun and forms part of the border between Iraq and Iran.

It sits at the head of the Persian Gulf in a low, flat plain with little elevation or cooling. Summer temperatures routinely exceed 45 °C; the airport recorded 53.9 °C in July 2016, one of the highest measured anywhere.

Traditional Basran homes with carved wooden balconies and lattice screens projecting over narrow streets and canals. The shanasheel filtered light and air, allowing women's privacy while admitting the river breeze. Many survive in the old quarter.

Indian Ocean trade, Arabic grammatical scholarship, and Mu'tazilite theology. Sindbad the Sailor of the Thousand and One Nights is said to set sail from Basra; the city was a real-world hub for merchants moving between East Africa, India, and Mesopotamia.

— about the piece in your home

It has carried well for customers from southern Iraq and the wider Gulf diaspora. The piece reads the city as river, palm, and old-quarter balcony. A Small or Medium with a handwritten studio note travels well.

The amber, dust, and river-blue palette sits naturally in warm Mediterranean and Levantine interiors, in rooms with brass, dark wood, and woven textile, and in modern earth-tone schemes built around terracotta and unbleached linen.

Yes. Warm minimalism leans on sand, ochre, and aged-wood tones, and the palette of this piece reads in that vocabulary without becoming literal desert imagery or orientalist pastiche.

Above a standard sofa, a single Large covers the wall well. Over a long console or in an entry hall, a four-tile Mural opens the image. A nine-tile Mural is a feature-wall scale.

Yes, ordered in Dura Satin or Matte. Both finishes are scratch-resistant and tolerate humidity, so the piece reads well as a backsplash, in a powder room, or on a shower wall.

A dry or barely damp microfibre cloth. The colour is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure and does not lift, fade, or scratch under ordinary cleaning.

Yes. Every WenderVista piece is curated by Reid Wender and hand-finished in our Knoxville studio. We do not license artwork from other studios or print partners.

— if this one stayed with you

A few you might also love.

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