In 1737 in the village of Bolsward in the northern Dutch province of Friesland four men founded a pottery.

To commemorate the occasion they put up a large blue and white tiled wall.

Along the top third of the wall are four small angels holding fruit and flowers and ribbons. These ribbons support four family crests based on the potters guild crest. Their small round faces strain with the effort of this responsibility.

Underneath the crests are the names of the founders.

• Joh. Tichelaar
• Jan.Steensma
• Herod de Jager
• Wybe.Steensma

The rest of the tiled wall depicts the pottery itself, the huge kiln, the clay being mixed, the pots in rows on wooden shelves waiting to be glazed, and the tiles being formed in wooden frames. Near one of the windows a couple of men are throwing pots.

The pottery stopped operating in 1801 but the tiled wall can be seen in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.

Jan Steensma was my great great great great great grandfather.

The Angel Collographs are based on one of the angels on this wall.