From a village workshop in northern Fujian
Michael Zhan came across the leaf carvings on a procurement trip through the hills of Nanping, not far from Wuyishan. He had stopped in a small village known locally for its nephrite workshops — quiet, family-run affairs that produce small-scale carvings for scholars’ tables and tea lovers. The carver, a gentle man in his seventies, works only with local jade from a nearby stream bed, selecting stones that already suggest the shape of a leaf.
The leaf designs are carved freehand, following the natural grain of the stone. Michael visited the workshop twice, watching the process from rough cut to final polish. Each leaf takes two days to finish, and no two are alike — one might have a curl at the tip, another a deeper vein pattern. The small size was chosen specifically for tea trays, where it can sit among cups and pots without crowding the space.
Michael selected a batch of twelve leaves, each with a slightly different hue. The one you see here is a particularly translucent piece with delicate veining that shows best when backlit. He notes that the carver signs each base with a tiny, barely-visible character — his own mark, a single brushstroke of the jade knife.