Culture | African-American ceramics

The defiant artistry of 19th-century African-American potters

Two shows highlight the craft and courage of David Drake and Thomas Commeraw

Storage jarDave (later recorded as David Drake) (American, about 1800–about 1870)1858Alkaline‑glazed stoneware* Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas (2021.29)  * Photography by Edward C. Robison III.* Courtesy Museum of Fine Arts, Boston — Drake’s art of subversionImage: Edward C. Robison III/Museum of

Mar 2nd 2023|NEW YORK

THE COUPLETS, incised in a lively cursive when the clay was still wet, leap from the jars. They wrap around the big-bellied pots just beneath their rims, as if anticipating their fullness once packed with cured meats, lard or pickled cucumbers. The verses that appear on some of the 40 surviving “poem jars” are joyful, even humorous. “When you fill this jar with pork or beef”, reads one, “Scot will be there; to get a peace.” Keep circling around the brown jars, and near the potter-poet’s signature—“Dave”—he has etched the initials “Lm”. These stand for Lewis Miles, his enslaver.

This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline “Wheels of fire”