Crafted in 1858 by the enslaved African American potter and poet David Drake during a time when it was illegal for slaves to read or write, the handsome jar, glazed in brown alkaline, is signed and dated by Drake, known as “Dave the Potter.”
The jar is one of about 40 known “poem vessels” fashioned by Drake, who was born in about 1800 on the Drake family plantation in South Carolina and died around 1870.
Living in Edgefield County, South Carolina, a pottery-making center rich in high-quality clays, Drake made pots while helping to run his owners’ kilns, which consumed 10 tons of firewood a day.
The only enslaved potter known to inscribe his works, Drake is the subject of scholarly studies, an award-winning children’s book, and several exhibitions, including one scheduled to open in February 2022 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art entitled “Stories in Clay: Stoneware from Old Edgefield District, South Carolina.”
Drake’s poem vessels can also be found in other museums, including the Philadelphia Museum of Art; the Smithsonian collection of the National Museum of American History; and the McKissick Museum of the University of South Carolina, which in 1998 presented the first exhibition devoted solely to Drake’s pottery.
