Exceptional One-and-a-Half-Gallon Stoneware Jar with Vertical Handles and Incised Floral Decoration with Combed Accents, Manhattan, NY origin, circa 1800, ovoid jar with footed base, heavily-tooled shoulder, and vertical loop handles, decorated on the front and reverse with a finely-incised floral design featuring a blossom composed of graduated petals. The decoration is delicately-highlighted in bold cobalt slip, with minimal bleed past the incised boundaries. It includes combed accents to the petals and leaves, as well as a stem created from a three-pronged stylus. One or both of these incised treatments can be found on a number of other well-decorated pieces dating to the last decade of the 18th century, and produced in the Manhattan stoneware complexes of Pot Baker's Hill and Corlears Hook. Additional brushed cobalt highlights appears at the handle terminals. This jar, whose maker is currently unknown, reveals the craftsmanship of a talented potter and decorator, as well as a certain level of skill involved with its firing, displaying even salt glazing and a uniform tan color to the clay throughout. A noteworthy example of early Manhattan stoneware, with superb form, decoration, and color. This jar survives in remarkable, excellent condition, with only very minor flaws. The majority of Manhattan pieces from this time period succumbed to greater damage. A tiny in-the-firing nick to foot. A faint, approximately 2" X-shaped surface line near base and a short vertical line at base, both of which are not visible on the interior and may have occurred in the firing. H 11".