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Exhibition History"Crafting Freedom: The Life and Legacy of Free Black Potter Thomas Commeraw", New York Historical Society, New York, NY, January 20, 2023 – November 26, 2023.
Artist
Thomas W. Commeraw
(1796 - 1819)
Jug
Date1797-1819
MediumStoneware
DimensionsOverall: 9 1/2 × 6 3/4 × 10 1/2 in. (24.1 × 17.1 × 26.7 cm)
Object numberN0070.1989
Credit LineCollection of the Fenimore Art Museum. Gift of J. Holman Swinney
Photograph by Richard Walker
Label TextPreviously mis-identified as a white man of European descent, recent scholarship has determined that Thomas Commeraw was a free Black craftsman who worked in Manhattan’s Corlears Hook. His vessels, largely utilitarian, were made in the local tradition, often decorated with distinctive incised flourishes of swag, tassels, and clamshell motifs filled with vivid cobalt. The foliate design found on both sides of this jar are typical of his wares and help distinguish his work from his contemporaries. Commeraw’s is the largest body of work in existence by a free Black potter during the antebellum period.Exhibition History"Crafting Freedom: The Life and Legacy of Free Black Potter Thomas Commeraw", New York Historical Society, New York, NY, January 20, 2023 – November 26, 2023.
On View
On view
