Images(9)

Coffeepot

Date1780-1800

Possibly by Crolius Pottery

Possibly by Remmey Pottery

OriginAmerica, New York, New York City, Manhattan

MediumStoneware, salt-glazed

DimensionsOverall: 19.1 x 24.1cm (7 1/2 x 9 1/2in. from spout to handle)

Credit LineMuseum Purchase, The Friends of Colonial Williamsburg Collections Fund

Object number2016-22

DescriptionSalt-glazed stoneware coffeepot. Body of the vessel is an ovoid-shaped storage jar from with a slightly everted rim. Incised floral decoration filled with cobalt blue on either side of the vessel near the transition from the shoulder to the rim. A straight spout and extruded handle applied on either side of the body and the attachment points all encircled with cobalt.
Label TextThis is a rare object with few pots of similar shape to compare it to. This has led to some debate over what this vessel was used for. Some have declared it to be a batter pitcher used for keeping and pouring pancake batter. However, this example is very different in shape and construction to vessels typically known to be batter pitchers. The most recent suggestion is that it is a coffeepot. Coffee was an important beverage in America and more popular in this country during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries than in England. The form may be inspired by spouted vessels of similar shape made in Germany during the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. These jugs were more likely used as serving vessels for alcoholic beverages. It is unclear if there is a connection between those objects and this pot.

What is more certain is that it was made in Manhattan during the late eighteenth century by potters who were working in a German-inspired stoneware tradition. During the early decades of the eighteenth century, two potters came to New York from the Westerwald region, the center of German stoneware production at that time. Johan Willem Crolius and Johannes Remmey established stoneware potteries on Pottbaker’s Hill in Manhattan. Not only were the Crolius and Remmey kilns in close proximity to each other, over time the two potteries shared apprentices and their families intermarried, thus making it almost impossible to attribute pieces to one factory or the other.