Hand-Painted Fez Ceramic Mug, Set of 4 with Zellige Pattern, 12cm from Fez

What's painted on this mug is not a pattern invented for tourists. It's the same interlacing star that covers the walls and fountains of the Fès medina in cut tile, translated onto a curved surface with a brush. Look at how it's built: the black outline goes down first, drawn freehand around the geometry, and only then does the colour go in red, orange, green, cobalt filling each cell inside its border. Get close and you'll see where a fill runs a hair past its line. That's what tells you a person did it. The mug is a real size, 12 centimetres tall and 9 across, tapering out toward the rim, with a cobalt handle glazed solid. It takes a full cup of coffee, not a polite half.

What Makes It

• Outlined first, then filled the black geometry is drawn freehand before any colour is added. Where a fill crosses its line, that's the hand.
• Zellige geometry, off the wall the eight-point star and interlacing bands come from Fès tilework, translated to a curve where the tile version sits flat.
• Four colours plus cobalt red, orange, green, blue in the panels, with a solid cobalt rim and handle framing the whole thing.
• Full mug size 12 cm tall, 9 cm across the rim. Sized for coffee or mint tea, not espresso.
• Painted under the glaze colour goes on before firing, glaze goes over. It won't scratch off or fade with washing.

The Craft

Fès has painted ceramics since the tile trade did, and the two share a vocabulary the painters are working from the same geometry the zellige cutters use, held in memory rather than copied from a sheet. The mug is thrown, dried, fired once, then painted. Outlining is the hard part: the star has to resolve correctly as it wraps around a taper, so the spacing has to be judged as the piece turns in the hand, and the line can't be corrected once it's down. Filling comes after, cell by cell. A single mug carries dozens of separate brush decisions.

Details

• Material: Glazed ceramic, hand-painted
• Dimensions: 12 cm high × 9 cm diameter / 4.72 × 3.54 in
• Capacity: 350 ml / 12 oz?
• Technique: Wheel-thrown, hand-painted underglaze
• Origin: Fès, Morocco
• Artisan: El fassi
• Food safe: yes
• microwave:no

Care

Hand wash in warm water with a soft cloth. No abrasive pad on the painted panels. Avoid sudden temperature change don't pour boiling water into a cup straight from a cold cupboard. Dry the foot fully before stacking.

What's Included

• four hand-painted ceramic mug
• Origin Passport card with QR code the painter's name, his workshop in Fès, and photographs of the outlining in progress
• Wrapped individually, boxed, DHL /FEDEX/ARAMEX/UPS, tracked to your door