[I, made this Jar,]

I, made this Jar, all of cross

If, you don’t repent, you will be, lost =

^{05/03/1862 (Saturday)}

Credit

This poem is in the public domain. Reprinted from The Words and Wares of David Drake: Revisiting “I Made This Jar” and the Legacy of Edgefield Pottery (University of South Carolina Press, 2023)

About this Poem

These transcriptions of inscriptions by and attributed to David Drake were drawn primarily from the work of Corbette E. Toussaint in the exhibit catalog for David Drake: Potter and Poet (Vero Beach, FL: Vero Beach Museum of Art, 2016), 35–37; and that of co-curators Adrienne Spinozzi, Ethan W. Lasser, and Jason R. Young in the exhibit catalog for Hear Me Now: The Black Potters of Old Edgefield, South Carolina (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2022), 180–81.

Author

David Drake

David Drake, also known as “Dave the Potter” and “Dave the Slave,” was born in c. 1800, possibly to parents who had trained as potters in West Africa, as Atlantic slave traders frequently kidnapped skilled laborers from villages. Drake was first owned by Harvey Drake, a nephew and business partner of the physician Dr. Abner Landrum, a founder of Pottersville, South Carolina, a community near Edgefield, South Carolina, known for its stoneware production. It was Dr.

Date Published

02/01/1862