Fermentation Crock on the Brining Quay

A huge two-handled crock stands on a round platform in the middle of a harbor, its lid propped open to show pickled vegetables inside: tomatoes, cucumbers, radishes and pumpkin. The teal body is painted with pink roses, gold scrolls and coral scallops, and the lilac handles carry flowers, mushrooms and blue coral. Workers in blue overalls climb two ladders, one carries a basket of vegetables, and others pass along the base. Around the crock are canals with wooden quays and footbridges, square salt pans, stacks of colored barrels, cargo boats full of produce, and sheds with sloped roofs. A man fishes from a small boat, and another pushes a barrel. The tidy squares of the salt pans and the barrel stacks give the quay a clear grid.