AFA 20th Anniversary

20th Anniversary 152 www.afamag.com |  www.incollect.com Five-gallon syrup jug, David Drake (1801–ca. 1875), Stoney Bluff plantation, Edgefield, S.C., 1850–1860. Ash-glazed stoneware. H. 17 inches. Colonial Williamsburg Collections Museum Purchase (1939-137). David Drake, an enslaved African-American potter, created ash-glazed stoneware vessels distinguished by their large size and, in some instances, their inscribed verses. Drake is the only known enslaved potter who signed and dated his wares. This action was risky because South Carolina had outlawed literacy among enslaved people. Although this jug is not embellished with poetry, at almost seventeen inches tall and fifteen inches in diameter, it has the scale associated with Drake’s work. Other distinctive features include the impressed thumbprint at the base of each handle and five incised punctates at the neck to indicate its five- gallon capacity. Syrup jugs held fresh molasses, the principal sweetener in the southerner’s diet. Although popular in the South, the form is virtually unknown in other parts of the country. Storage jar, attributed to Archibald McPherson (1838– 1909), Belcher’s Gap, DeKalb County, Ala., 1865–1885. Alkaline-glazed stoneware, H. 12¼ inches. Colonial Williamsburg Collections Museum Purchase, C. Thomas Hamlin III Fund and Elise Wright in memory of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Clay Hofheimer II and in honor of John C. Austin (2015.900.4). The Belcher, McPherson, and Henry families moved to DeKalb County in the Sand Mountain region of Alabama during the 1860s. They began producing utilitarian pottery at several sites within walking distance of each other. These potters were known for a technique called “double-dipping,” where they used two types of alkaline glazes on the same piece of pottery.