A Very Good Late 18th or Early 19th Century Stoneware Jug Decorated with an Inscribed Perched Bird Highlighted with Cobalt

This is an excellent example of late eighteenth or early nineteenth century stoneware from New York that is included as part of the good stoneware collection that I have been writing about over the past few months, which is currently offered by Antiques Associates At West Townsend in Massachusetts. A number of pieces from this collection have gone to museum and prominent private collections, although there are still many good pieces available, such as the case with this jug. In fact, when I first handled this collection last fall, this jug stood out to me as one of the best pieces of stoneware from the collection, which at the time totaled over forty pieces: https://www.aaawt.com/antique/stoneware-jug-probably-made-by-david-morgan-in-manhattan-incised-bird/.

Furthermore, this jug is pictured on page 127 in Brandt Zipp's book, Commeraw's Stoneware: The Life and Work of the First African-American Pottery Owner, where it was described with other related objects: "A variety of incised designs on Manhattan area stoneware. Three incised bird jugs, unmarked but at the very least of the Manhattan school." 

Interestingly, there has also been some speculation, whether this jug was made by David Morgan in Manhattan; according to the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C., "David Morgan worked for New York City potter John Crolius Jr., beginning in 1795. In 1798 he temporarily took over Thomas H. Commeraw’s kiln on Cherry Street near Corlear’s Hook in Manhattan. The mark “CORLEARS HOOK” can be found on many of the well-formed jars, jugs and pitchers attributed to Morgan."

Additionally, according to the information that accompanies a marked Morgan jug displayed by Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia, "In 1797 Thomas H. Commeraw established a stoneware pottery at Corlear's Hook in Manhattan. The following year, 1798, the pottery was taken over by David Morgan a potter who had previously been employed by John Crolius, Jr. in another area of the city. Morgan's work is remarkably similar in shape and decoration to those produced by Commeraw. 

Commeraw returned to the Corlear's Hook pottery in 1802 and Morgan continued to work with him for a year. David Morgan is known to have been working in Manhattan in 1809, but after that he disappears from the records. It seems likely that David Morgan was related to James Morgan, Jr. of Cheesequake, New Jersey, but the link between the two has not been firmly established."

This jug also retains its auction sticker from Marlin G. Denlinger's stoneware auction in Bennington, Vermont on April 13, 1985, when it sold as part of the George & Helen Van Kennen Collection of Ogdensburg, New York.

For more information about this object - contact A.A.A.W.T.: https://www.aaawt.com/about/.

Note: For some of the other stoneware objects that I have written about from this collection - see this link: http://www.earlyamericanceramics.com/2025/03/some-very-good-stoneware-objects-that-i.html.

Stoneware Jug Decorated with an Inscribed Perched Bird Highlighted with Cobalt

(Middle) Late 18th or Early 19th Century Stoneware Jug Inscribed with a Bird

The Bird is also Highlighted with Cobalt

Manhattan School - Possibly Made by David Morgan

Stands 9 1/2" Tall

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Photo Courtesy: Antiques Associates At West Townsend

Additional Views of the Jug

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Photo Courtesy: Antiques Associates At West Townsend

The Jug is Pictured on Page 127 in Brandt Zipp's Book, Commeraw's Stoneware: The Life and Work of the First African-American Pottery Owner

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The List of Potters Documented Working in New York City in 1805

Longworth's American Almanack, New York Register, and City Directory, 1805

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Photo Courtesy: New York Public Library

Late 18th or Early 19th Century Stoneware Jug from Manhattan

Marked "DAVID MORGAN. / NEW YORK."

Circa 1798

Stands 14 3/8" Tall

See Article for More Information

Photo Courtesy: Colonial Williamsburg

Please Stay Tuned...Much More to Come...