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戴维·德雷克（David Drake）是19世纪美国南卡罗来纳州的一位被奴役陶工，人们常称他“陶工戴夫”。在当时，被奴役的人不能拥有自己制作的东西，法律也禁止黑人识字，但德雷克仍在许多陶罐上刻下自己的名字、日期和短诗，为后人留下了珍贵的记录。近年来，他的作品在艺术界越来越受重视，一只大陶罐曾以156万美元成交。今年5月，艺术家西斯特·盖茨把自己收藏的一只德雷克陶罐归还给了德雷克的后代；10月21日起，这只陶罐由家族借给弗吉尼亚州的汉普顿大学博物馆展出——这是传统黑人大学（historically Black university）第一次展出他的作品。文章按“事件—背景—意义”展开：先讲这次借展，再介绍德雷克的经历和作品价值，接着说明后代如何与博物馆、收藏者协商归还或买回作品，最后落到家族成员的个人感受。阅读时可留意 Yet、According to、for example、such as 等词如何引出转折、信息来源和例子，也可以留意文中如何用 says、said 区分事实与当事人的说法。

正文

In May, the American artist Theaster Gates gave a stoneware jar back to the family of the man who made it. That man was David Drake, an enslaved potter from South Carolina known as “Dave the Potter.” Now the family has lent the jar to the Hampton University Museum in Virginia. It went on view on October 21 and will stay there until May 2027. Hampton is a historically Black university, and its museum is the first at such a school to show a Drake jar.

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今年5月，美国艺术家西斯特·盖茨（Theaster Gates）把一只粗陶罐归还给了制作它的人的家族。这个人就是戴维·德雷克（David Drake），一位来自南卡罗来纳州、被称为“陶工戴夫”的被奴役陶工。现在，这个家族把这只陶罐借给了弗吉尼亚州的汉普顿大学博物馆。陶罐于10月21日开始展出，并将展出至2027年5月。汉普顿大学是一所传统黑人大学（historically Black university），其博物馆是此类学校中第一个展出德雷克陶罐的博物馆。

Drake was born around 1800 in Edgefield, South Carolina. As an enslaved man, he could not own the things he made, and laws at that time tried to stop Black people from learning to read. Yet Drake made about 40,000 jars, and he wrote his name, dates and short poems on many of them. This was a real risk, but it left a clear record of a skilled and thoughtful maker.

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德雷克大约于1800年出生在南卡罗来纳州的埃奇菲尔德。作为被奴役的人，他无法拥有自己制作的东西，而当时的法律还试图阻止黑人学习阅读。然而，德雷克制作了大约4万只陶罐，并在其中许多陶罐上写下了自己的名字、日期和短诗。这样做有真实的风险，但也清楚地留下了一位技艺高超、富有思想的制作者的记录。

Over the past ten years, his name has become far better known in the art world. In 2021, one of his large jars sold for $1.56 million, a world auction record for American pottery. The next year, a major exhibition about Black potters in Edgefield opened at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and then traveled to three other US cities.

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过去十年里，他的名字在艺术界变得广为人知。2021年，他的一只大陶罐以156万美元售出，创下美国陶器的世界拍卖纪录。第二年，一场关于埃奇菲尔德黑人陶工的大型展览在纽约大都会艺术博物馆开幕，随后又巡展到美国另外三座城市。

After that exhibition, Drake’s descendants came together and began asking museums and collectors to return his work or buy it back. According to Hampton University, about 55 museums and dozens of collectors hold his roughly 200 surviving jars. Since 2025, the family has reached agreements with five museums and two collectors, including Gates. All of these jars are still on public view. The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, for example, bought one jar back and kept the other on loan.

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那场展览之后，德雷克的后代团结起来，开始请求博物馆和收藏者归还他的作品，或者把作品买回去。据汉普顿大学介绍，大约55家博物馆和数十位收藏者持有他现存的约200只陶罐。自2025年以来，这个家族已与五家博物馆和两位收藏者（包括盖茨）达成协议。这些陶罐目前仍全部公开展出。例如，波士顿美术馆买回了其中一只陶罐，另一只则以借展形式留在馆内。

Museums already have rules for returning stolen objects, such as art taken during the Nazi period. The university‘s statement says Drake’s descendants are the first African Americans to seek the return of art made under slavery in the United States. George Fatheree III, an adviser to the family, said Drake worked under a system that denied him ownership of his own labor.

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对于归还被盗物品，博物馆早已有相关规则，例如纳粹时期被掠走的艺术品。汉普顿大学的声明称，德雷克的后代是第一批寻求归还美国奴隶制下所创作艺术品的非裔美国人。家族顾问乔治·法瑟里三世（George Fatheree III）说，德雷克是在一个剥夺他对自身劳动所有权的制度下工作的。

For Yaba Baker, Drake’s fourth-great-grandson, the loan is also personal. Baker studied at Hampton and called it “a full-circle moment.” Baker said Drake’s pottery left the family “a voice, a connection, a way to know him.” One of the family’s oldest members died earlier this year, and others hope to see justice in their lifetimes.

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对德雷克的第六代后人亚巴·贝克（Yaba Baker）来说，这次借展也有个人意义。贝克曾在汉普顿大学就读，称这是“一个圆满的时刻”。贝克说，德雷克的陶器给家族留下了“一个声音、一种联系、一种认识他的方式”。家族中一位年纪最长的成员今年早些时候去世了，其他人希望能在有生之年看到公正得到实现。

新闻来源

• Hampton University via PR Newswire · Hampton University Museum to Receive Loan of Historic Vessel by Enslaved Ceramicist David Drake from Artist’s Descendants (20 Oct 2026)
• ARTnews · Theaster Gates Returned a David Drake Jar to His Descendants—It’s Now on View at a Virginia HBCU (21 Oct 2026)
• Museum of Fine Arts, Boston · Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Resolves Ownership of Works by Enslaved Artist David Drake (29 Oct 2025)

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