Very Rare Stoneware Jug with Impressed Drape-and-Tassel Decorations, Stamped "N. YORK / COERLEARS / HOOK," Thomas Commeraw, Corlears Hook, Manhattan, NY, circa 1800, highly-ovoid jug with footed base, potted with a tapered spout featuring combed incising at its juncture with the body and a semi-rounded mouth; front decorated with an impressed and cobalt-highlighted drape-and-tassel motif in the form of a bowknot. Impressed above with the cobalt-highlighted mark, "N. YORK," and below with the cobalt-highlighted mark, "COERLEARS / HOOK." Brushed cobalt highlights to handle terminals. This jug is one of a small number of surviving pieces bearing Commeraw's earliest maker's mark, "COERLEARS / HOOK / N. YORK." Employing his signature impressed drapery motifs, this jug is one of a very few existing transitional pieces between Commeraw's earliest incised work and his later "COMMERAW'S STONEWARE" era. (See A. Brandt Zipp, Commeraw's Stoneware: The Life and Work of the First African-American Pottery Owner, pp. 67-72.) The exceptional color and potting of this work, unusually rotund in form with distinctive spout tooling and construction, relate it to a small number of slightly later, profusely-stamped jugs regarded among the finest Commeraw pieces known. A 7" spider crack to left side of jug with one crack extending across underside. Chips and wear to base. A horizontal crack through handle. A 2 3/4" H-shaped crack along "OK" in "HOOK". A tight 2 1/8" spider crack to midsection on right side of jug. A 2 1/4" hairline to right side of jug, extending from shoulder partway up spout. Minor chipping to spout, most of which occurred in the making. Some short, faint vertical lines to base of jug. Spots of surface wear, including some wear to impressed decoration. H 12".
