Ceramics in America 2024

Ceramics in America 2024 advances scholarship on ceramics made, used, and collected across the nation. This volume features groundbreaking research including studies of Thomas Commeraw, the free Black potter of early 19th-century New York; a recently surfaced French porcelain figure from George Washington's collection with roots in an African American family; revelations about porcelain figures depicting Uncle Tom's Cabin characters; the enduring tradition of face vessels in American ceramics; and the unexpected story of how a baby squirrel inspired a remarkable tin-glazed earthenware collection.

256 Pages, 8.8 x 11.3 in, 300 illustrations.

Contents:

Introduction
Ronald W. Fuchs, II

New York City in the Era of Thomas Commeraw
Leslie M. Harris

Putting Thomas Commeraw Together Again: A Brief Meditation on Two Decades of Research
A. Brandt Zipp

Making a Commeraw Jar with Free-Standing Handles
Mark Shapiro

Origins and Evolution of the Early American Oyster Jar
Chris Pickerell

Collecting Commeraw
Margi Hofer and Allison Robinson

Slave Candlesticks: Illuminating British Patronage and Racism in the Mid-Eighteenth Century
Patricia F. Ferguson

La Peinture: The Rediscovery of George and Martha Washington’s Presidential Biscuit Porcelain Figures and their Incredible Provenance
Cassandra A. Good and Adam T. Erby

About Face Vessels
Robert Hunter

New Findings of Figural Porcelains that Feature Characters from Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Jill Weitzman Fenichell

A Worcester Parian Figure of Little Eva Reading the Bible to Uncle Tom
Ronald W. Fuchs II

Perish Slavery Prosper Freedom
Robert Hunter

A Rare “Colored Republicing Club” Cooler
C. Wesley Cowan and Stephen C. Compton

Squirrel Iconography on Early Delftware: The Genesis of a Ceramic Collection
Al Luckenbach

“The Nation’s Guest and Our Country’s Glory”: Lafayette on Ceramics in Philadelphia
Deborah L. Miller and Ronald W. Fuchs II

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Ceramics in America stands as an essential annual publication from the Chipstone Foundation, bridging scholarship and collecting with rigorous interdisciplinary perspective. Each volume explores historical ceramics within American cultural, social, and material contexts—from archaeological inquiry to contemporary studio practice. Indispensable for collectors seeking depth, curators building institutional knowledge, decorative arts students, historical researchers, and working potters alike.