Ceramics

Salt-glazed stoneware vessels

Artist/Creator: Thomas W. Commeraw
Holding Institution: New-York Historical Society

The five stoneware vessels were made by free Black potter Thomas W. Commeraw, who operated his own pottery in lower Manhattan from about 1797 to 1819. Commeraw’s identity as a Black craftsman was discovered in 2003, overturning the long held assumption that he was white. Scholars long assumed that stoneware potter Thomas W. Commeraw was of European descent. Recent research, however, shows that he was a free African American.

The stoneware pieces are highly significant. Fewer than 60 intact Commeraw vessels are known to survive in public collections. These five pieces are typical of Commeraw’s production circa 1800-1819, before he lost his business due to financial difficulties.

Thomas Commeraw was born enslaved and likely learned the Germanic tradition of salt-glazed stoneware working in the New York City pottery of his father’s enslaver, William Crolius. He and his family were freed by Crolius in 1778 when Thomas was around eight years old. By 1797, Commeraw had established his own workshop at Corlears Hook on the East River, near today's Chinatown. . There he produced vessels in the local tradition, typically decorated with distinctive flourishes of swags, tassels, and clamshell motifs filled with vivid cobalt. He also manufactured oyster jars for the city’s oystermen, who were predominantly from the free Black community. His crocks and jugs were used predominantly by New York families and business owners but also traveled on ships to distant ports. Commeraw was involved in the antislavery movement, and in 1820 he traveled to Sierra Leone as an advocate for the American Colonization Society, which promoted the "return" of free African Americans to Africa

Commeraw displayed remarkable entrepreneurial grit in the face of racism, financial obstacles, and a city deeply ambivalent about its expanding population of free Black residents. He worked with abolitionist, political, religious, and mutual aid organizations in the hopes of securing a better future for the Black community. Commeraw’s story powerfully illustrates the long struggle for the rights of full citizenship on the part of Black Americans; and his pottery—the only artifacts that survive from his hands—offer a tangible and compelling entry point to exploring this critical aspect of New York and American history.