EarlyAmericanCeramics.com: An Unusual Variation of the New Haven Stoneware Gemel in the Collection of the Connecticut Historical Society

Friday, December 14, 2018

An Unusual Variation of the New Haven Stoneware Gemel in the Collection of the Connecticut Historical Society

A partnership formed between Absalom Stedman and Frederick Seymour in New Haven, Connecticut, circa 1825-1835, resulted in some of the state's most interesting pieces of nineteenth century stoneware production. The most notable form manufactured at this business was certainly the gemel, a pair of conjoined jugs with one carrying handle; although, the jugs were not connected on the interior, creating two separate chambers. It's one of the rarest forms to find in American stoneware today, and while some of the gemels produced at this business were left with little or no decoration, others were adorned in cobalt, as well as incised birds and fish.

In fact, this business is even known to have manufactured double gemels, or four conjoined jugs with one carrying handle. The reason for the form was to separate liquids, and for whatever reason, those liquids were often used together.

While recently touring some of the red earthenware and stoneware collection in storage at the Connecticut Historical Society in Hartford, Connecticut, I viewed this highly unusual object from the Stedman and Seymour partnership. This is a gemel, but rather than being produced with a pair of attached jugs, it was actually made with a handled jug conjoined to a bottle or flask. I cannot recall having ever seen anything exactly like this before.

According to the Connecticut Historical Society, "Opposite the handle is an impressed mark, "STEDMAN / SEYMOUR / NEW HAVEN." Cobalt blue is hand-painted over this mark, both ends of the handle and the area between the jug and the bottle. To one side of the bottle, close to the area where the two are connected, is a double impressed mark, "NEW HAVEN / NEW HAVEN." This mark is also hand-painted with cobalt blue."

Unusual Gemel from New Haven, CT