David Drake and The "Fuck You" Jug
Apr. 5th, 2026 11:37 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dismallyorientedMy wife works for a museum - janitorial staff, but because of how her workplace is structured, she falls under the Conservation department instead of maintenance. Which means she's had the opportunity to get more involved and informed about artifact preservation.
We're both history buffs, but this job has gotten us big into folk art specifically. Folk art being the things made by ordinary people and working artists/craftsmen. Pottery, weather vanes, children's toys, quilts. Functional things and amateur creators. For February one year, a local folk art museum put on exhibitions featuring Black locals, past and present, making paintings and sculpture out of pieces of scrap wood and other everyday supplies. "Folk art" as a category doesn't really exist without the fine art world having specifically delineated what forms of art "count" as being worthy of museum display and auction, but this being the world we live in, I still care deeply about the art of the everyday.
One thing in particular that this museum does is put specific effort into highlighting historic Black artisans, including from the time of chattel slavery. There were a lot a lot of enslaved artisans working for white owners and white-owned companies, but historians run into issues with attribution because none of these people were permitted to sign their own work, and many states outlawed literacy for the enslaved. You can know who worked at a particular shop, you can know they directly contributed to this nice wooden desk and what piecework they would've had a hand in, but you can't always point to a specific item and go "this person did that."
David Drake is one of the exceptions. Born sometime in 1800, he worked as a potter from the 1820s-1870s and signed his work with his name and little two line poems and other assorted inscriptions. The first recorded poem was a pot from July 12th, 1834:
He's a very notable figure in the American Art History world, jugs that sold for $0.50 in his time are getting auctioned for hundreds of thousands now. But the reason I know about and like him is this one particular jug I saw on display, a jug from June 28th, 1854. It is a 3-gallon single-handled jug, with the date, Dave's name, and a single sentence:
It is now 2026. Aside from the inscriptions carved into the clay, that jug is entirely intact and smooth. It has been 172 years of pure artisanal "up yours." Cheers to you, David Drake, you made some damn good pots.
We're both history buffs, but this job has gotten us big into folk art specifically. Folk art being the things made by ordinary people and working artists/craftsmen. Pottery, weather vanes, children's toys, quilts. Functional things and amateur creators. For February one year, a local folk art museum put on exhibitions featuring Black locals, past and present, making paintings and sculpture out of pieces of scrap wood and other everyday supplies. "Folk art" as a category doesn't really exist without the fine art world having specifically delineated what forms of art "count" as being worthy of museum display and auction, but this being the world we live in, I still care deeply about the art of the everyday.
One thing in particular that this museum does is put specific effort into highlighting historic Black artisans, including from the time of chattel slavery. There were a lot a lot of enslaved artisans working for white owners and white-owned companies, but historians run into issues with attribution because none of these people were permitted to sign their own work, and many states outlawed literacy for the enslaved. You can know who worked at a particular shop, you can know they directly contributed to this nice wooden desk and what piecework they would've had a hand in, but you can't always point to a specific item and go "this person did that."
David Drake is one of the exceptions. Born sometime in 1800, he worked as a potter from the 1820s-1870s and signed his work with his name and little two line poems and other assorted inscriptions. The first recorded poem was a pot from July 12th, 1834:
Put every bit all between
Surely this jar will hold 14
He's a very notable figure in the American Art History world, jugs that sold for $0.50 in his time are getting auctioned for hundreds of thousands now. But the reason I know about and like him is this one particular jug I saw on display, a jug from June 28th, 1854. It is a 3-gallon single-handled jug, with the date, Dave's name, and a single sentence:
"LM [his owner] says this handle will crack."
It is now 2026. Aside from the inscriptions carved into the clay, that jug is entirely intact and smooth. It has been 172 years of pure artisanal "up yours." Cheers to you, David Drake, you made some damn good pots.
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Date: 2026-04-06 09:46 am (UTC)You might like A Short History of Black Craft in Ten Objects.
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Date: 2026-04-07 02:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-04-06 04:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-04-07 02:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-04-07 02:26 am (UTC)https://www.antiquesandthearts.com/daves-jug-with-handle-that-never-cracked-takes-420000-at-crocker-farm/
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Date: 2026-04-07 02:43 am (UTC)