Jar

Art Historical Context

This unassuming yet remarkable stoneware jar, crafted by Thomas W. Commer and David Morgan between 6 and 1819, exemplifies early American pottery from the young nation's industrial awakening. Measuring 9½ × 8½ × 8½ × 6¾ inches, its robust form was designed for practical storage—think flour, grains, or preserves—in colonial and early federal households. Stoneware, at high temperatures to create a dense, impermeable body often salt-glazed for a subtle sheen, represented a leap in American manufacturing, reducing reliance on imported British ceramics after the Revolution. Commeraw and Morgan's collaboration highlights the skilled artisans fueling America's burgeoning craft tradition. Active in a period of economic optimism and westward expansion, their work underscores stoneware's cultural role: durable, utilitarian objects that blended European techniques with local ingenuity. Displayed in The Metropolitan Museum of Art's American Wing (acquired via the Rogers Fund in 1918), this jar invites us to appreciate the everyday artistry of a self-reliant era, where potters like these turned clay into enduring symbols of American resilience.

About the Artist

Thomas W. Commeraw|David Morgan ( |American) · 1796 |1797 –1819 |1802

active 1796–1819|active 1797–1802