MFA Boston returns historic jars by enslaved artist David Drake.

3 days ago7 min read

In a quiet, profound act of historical reckoning that reverberates far beyond its gallery walls, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston has undertaken its first-ever restitution of artwork created under the brutal institution of slavery, returning ownership of historic storage jars crafted by the enslaved artist David Drake. Known as Dave the Potter, Drake was a man of extraordinary talent and defiant spirit, who, despite the laws forbidding literacy among the enslaved, boldly signed his name, inscribed dates, and even wrote short poems and couplets onto the clay vessels he turned in the pottery districts of Edgefield, South Carolina, during the mid-19th century.This isn't merely the transfer of a title deed; it is the symbolic unshackling of a legacy, a belated acknowledgment that these jars are not merely artifacts of American craft but are, in fact, soulful testimonies born from a system designed to erase personhood. Each jar, monumental in size and flawless in execution, stands as a silent, powerful rebuttal to the notion that its creator was property.The MFA’s decision, while specific to these few pieces, sends a seismic wave through the museum world, forcing a long-overdue conversation about the very nature of ownership, provenance, and ethical stewardship when the object’s history is inextricably linked to violence and subjugation. What does it mean for a cultural institution to hold something that was produced under forced labor? How do we honor the artist without glorifying the circumstances of his creation? This move, arguably, is not an endpoint but a beginning—a single, cautious step on the long and complex path of repatriation and restorative justice that many museums are now being compelled to walk. It invites us to listen to the stories these jars tell, not of a romanticized antebellum South, but of one man’s unyielding quest for identity and expression under the most oppressive conditions imaginable, a narrative that Laura Bennett would explore through the deeply human lens of resilience and the universal need to leave a mark on the world.

#MFA Boston

#restitution

#enslaved artist

#David Drake

#historic pottery

#featured

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