EarlyAmericanCeramics.com: An Early Handled Stoneware Jar Manufactured with a Pouring Spout

Thursday, July 16, 2020

An Early Handled Stoneware Jar Manufactured with a Pouring Spout

While not exactly the same, this possible eighteenth century cobalt decorated handled stoneware jar with a pouring spout is similar in form to some red earthenware and stoneware examples manufactured in places like France and Germany in the eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth century. Although, this particular example is possibly from an American manufacturer.

Interestingly, when I first saw the pictures of this piece, the shape instantly reminded me of an eighteenth century stoneware jar with a pouring spout that I handled a few years ago in storage at the Connecticut Historical Society in Hartford, Connecticut. That jar is dated in script, "1790," and is attributed to Abraham Mead (1742-1827) in Greenwich, Connecticut. The jar is also handled, but the handles are now missing; the overall shape of the jar is a distinct style manufactured by Mead after the American Revolution with extent examples known in both private collections and in the Connecticut Historical Society, as well as other museums.

I have also seen these type of pouring spouts applied on eighteenth century stoneware handled jars manufactured in New Jersey, including a possible example that may have been made at the Captain James Morgan (1734-1784) Pottery in Cheesequake, New Jersey (village in Old Bridge Township). In an article I wrote, published this past winter for Antiques & the Arts Weekly, titled, "Early Red Earthenware and Stoneware Found on Staten Island," it was revealed that archaeological evidence has shown that some of Morgan's stoneware was likely exported to Staten Island around the American Revolution, circa 1776-78. Cheesequake was an ideal location for early stoneware production; it was located near high-quality clays, conveniently located next to waterways for transportation and was within a close proximity to a major market in New York City.

Captain Morgan apparently established the Morgan Pottery around 1770, the same year he mortgaged his land where the pottery was located. Archaeological evidence collected at the site of the pottery has revealed some sherds bearing dates from the mid-1770s; also based on archaeological evidence, the wares seem to indicate a strong German influence, such as that found only a few miles away with the Remmey and Crolius potters in Manhattan.

I would also not be surprised to learn that this type of vessel with a pouring spout was manufactured in Manhattan in the 1700s. But it should also be noted that these type of pouring spouts may have been manufactured in the northeast during the early nineteenth century, as well.

An Early Handled Stoneware Jar Manufactured with a Pouring Spout