STAMPED BY THOMAS W. COMMERAW (ACTIVE 1796-1819), NEW YORK, CIRCA 1797-1798

A free African American potter working in late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century New York, Thomas H. Commeraw stands as an important figure in the history of ceramics and sheds valuable light on the African American experience in early New York. In this vein, the New-York Historical Society is currently preparing a 2023 exhibition, "Crafting Freedom: Uncovering the Life and Legacy of Free Black Potter Thomas Commeraw." Descended from enslaved people, Commeraw ran his business from Corlear's Hook, along the shore of Manhattan's Lower East Side and near a Free African American community. Bearing the same maker's stamps and swag and floral incised decoration, this jar relates closely to a slightly larger example dated to 1797-1798 at Winterthur Museum (1959.1751).