This is perhaps the best decorated late eighteenth or early nineteenth century two-gallon stoneware jug bearing the storied African-American potter, Thomas Commeraw's (ca. 1771-1823) earliest maker's mark, "N YORK / COLEARS / HOOK," which is also decorated with a number of stamped swags and tassels that are further embellished with highlighted cobalt. This particular jug retains a fascinating history over the last half century or so, having previously been owned for the past 50 or more years by a private collector on Long Island, suggesting that this object may never have entirely left the downstate area of New York since it was originally created until its most recent ownership.
Interestingly, this jug was also appraised when PBS' Antiques Roadshow visited New York City in 2015, although the producers and the appraisers decided not to include the jug as part of the broadcast episode. But the jug was appraised.
More recently, this jug was displayed at the Fenimore Art Museum in Cooperstown, New York in the summer and early fall of 2023, as part of the Commeraw exhibit, Crafting Freedom: The Life and Legacy of Free Black Potter Thomas W. Commeraw. Nonetheless, what really puts this object over the top for me is the amount of swag and tassel decoration, which seems to have been used in more abundance on this jug when compared to many of the other known objects from this early period of Commeraw's production.
Additionally, as I noted in yesterday's post, this jug will be included as part of a very good single-owner private collection of 40 or so pieces of stoneware that will soon be available through Antiques Associates at West Townsend in Massachusetts. Some of the other New York City objects from this collection were published in Brandt Zipp's book, Commeraw's Stoneware: The Life and Work of the First African-American Pottery Owner, although this jug was not included in the book, but this type of early mark is discussed in Chapter 3 on pages 53-76.
For more information about Commeraw, see Zipp's book, as well as articles published in the January 27, 2023 issue of Antiques And The Arts Weekly and the January/February 2023 issue of The Magazine Antiques about Commeraw and the exhibit, which was first displayed at the New York Historical Society in Manhattan before it traveled to Cooperstown. I also wrote a feature story about the exhibit for the February 17, 2023 issue of Antiques & Auction News, titled, New Stoneware Exhibit: The Life And Legacy Of Free Black Potter Thomas W. Commeraw - Pottery Show On View At New York Historical Society In Manhattan: http://www.earlyamericanceramics.com/2023/02/new-published-cover-story-thomas.html.
Outstanding Example of Thomas Commeraw's Early Stoneware in NYC
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