Storage Jar
David Drake
1857
Medium
Stoneware and glaze
Dimensions
45.7 × 43.2 cm (18 × 17 in.); Diam.: 43.2 cm (17 in.)
Classification
container
Department
Arts of the Americas
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
257989
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
This boldly inscribed storage jar was made by David Drake, who was born enslaved around 1800 and learned the art of hand-coiling, throwing, and glazing pottery in Edgefield, South Carolina. “LM” stands for Lewis Miles, Drake’s enslaver and owner of the Stoney Bluff Manufactory, part of the plantation where the potter labored from around 1849 to the 1860s. Drake was not the only artisan active in Edgefield, and his audacious works represent artistry, skill, and resilience at a time when enslaved ...