Dave and Mark jar

Drake, David · 1859

This alkaline stoneware jug alkaline-glazed stoneware storage jar is inscribed “Mark and /Dave” and “LM/ March 10, 1859. It was made on the plantation pottery of Lewis Miles in the Edgefield District of South Carolina. Only Edgefield and a small area of East Texas employed enslaved labor in local potteries-- and the number of enslaved potters and the range of wares produced in Texas were insignificant in comparison with Edgefield. Only Edgefield potteries trained and relied on large numbers of highly skilled black potters to produce a wide range of exceptionally well-made useful wares in a fiercely competitive regional market. Edgefield, with its rich clay deposits, wealthy planters/stoneware manufacturers, and abundant labor force was truly a unique place in the ante-bellum South.