The city of Basel is surrounded by valleys with rich stocks of clay. The Leimen Valley (the name comes from the word Lehm meaning clay) has blue soil and the Kander Valley to the north red soil. There were potters who made earthenware pots in both valleys as well as in the city itself. To qualify as a master potter, the potters of Basel, for example, had to produce a masterpiece rather like the pitcher shown here: “…a ten-pint pitcher with a narrow neck turned in one piece.” The inscription says: “1737 de 6 dag meyen von Johannes p gemacht in Oberwill,” which is a reference to the potter Johannes Pamier (or Bannier, baptized 1697, died 1751) of Oberwil in the Leimen Valley near Basel.