Heirlooms are only heirlooms when they remain in the hands of the families who made them. This week, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA), has reached a historic agreement that officially recognizes the authorship and ownership rights of David Drake, an enslaved African American potter who worked in Edgefield, South Carolina during the 1800s.
- The MFA has formally restored ownership of two 1857 stoneware jars to the descendants of enslaved potter David Drake.
- The museum repurchased one jar, known as the Poem Jar; the second, the Signed Jar, remains on long-term loan from Drake’s family.
- This resolution sets a new U.S. precedent for handling cultural objects created under enslavement.
According to MFA’s press release, both 1857 jars, each signed and dated by Drake, have been transferred to his living heirs. The museum repurchased one, dubbed the Poem Jar for its inscribed couplet, “I made this Jar = for cash / Though its called Lucre trash,” while the companion Signed Jar will remain at the MFA under a long-term loan arranged with the family. (The purchase price was not disclosed, and it’s unclear if the family was offered full market value.)
Drake, who was literate despite laws forbidding enslaved people to read or write, carved his name and verses into the thousands of massive alkaline-glazed vessels he produced at Edgefield’s Stony Bluff Manufactory. The MFA acknowledged that Drake, enslaved at the time of their creation, had no control over the sale or ownership of his pots.
The museum says this is its first restitution connected to the slavery era, structured similarly to how it resolves Holocaust-era ownership claims. This reversal grew out of conversations sparked by the 2023 exhibition “Hear Me Now: The Black Potters of Old Edgefield.” Hopefully, it sets a precedent that acknowledges the legal invisibility of enslaved artisans, updates provenance records with family participation, and provides a replicable model for other institutions examining the origins of similar works.
The family established the Dave the Potter Legacy Trust to honor David Drake’s artistry, culture, and history, while also making sure his descendants are part of the story going forward.
