STAMPED "COMMERAWS / CORLEARS / HOOK", MANHATTAN, NEW YORK DECORATED STONEWARE JAR, salt-glazed, approximately two-gallon capacity, ovoid form with wide-mouth, plain rim, beaded shoulder ring, and open horizontal loop handles. Stamped drape and tassel design to each side, one side stamped "STONEWARE / STONEWARE", with backward "N", each stamp having cobalt infill, additional cobalt to handle terminals. Thomas W. Commeraw (c. 1772–1823, active 1796–1819), New York, NY. 1800-1819. 11 1/4" H, 8" D rim.
Literature: Parallels Zipp - Commeraw's Stoneware: The Life and Work of the First African-American Pottery Owner, p. 98.
Catalogue Note: Thomas W. Commeraw was a free African-American potter whose ethnicity was assumed to be of European ancestry until a chance discovery in 2003. He and his family were enslaved by successful Manhattan potter William Crolius, who manumitted the entire family in his will in 1779. Thomas possibly gained some of the knowledge on how to make pottery from this early relationship. By the time he was in his twenties, Commeraw was running his own successful pottery, being one of the first potters to put his own name on his wares, many of which were beautifully decorated with rich cobalt-filled incised designs. In 1820, Commeraw relocated with his family to Sierra Leone on the first venture arranged by the American Colonization Society. Sadly, the journey proved a failure and he returned destitute to the United States only two years later. Thomas Commeraw died in Baltimore in 1823.

Excellent condition, having some scattered flakes/shallow chip to rim and foot, a radial hairline not affecting resonance extending from base and partially up one side, and some staining to lower half.