EDITOR’S NOTE:  This article was originally published by The Art Newspaper, an editorial partner of CNN Style.

In a very rare and likely precedent-setting agreement, the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) Boston has agreed to return two works from 1857 by the Black potter David Drake, who made his ambitious jars while enslaved, to his present-day descendants.

By the terms of the contract, one of those vessels will remain on loan to the museum for at least two years, according to the lawyer George Fatheree, who is representing Drake’s descendants. The other vessel — a masterpiece known as the “Poem Jar” — has been purchased back by the museum from the heirs for an undisclosed sum. Now the work comes with “a certificate of ethical ownership.”

“In achieving this resolution, the MFA recognizes that Drake was deprived of his creations involuntarily and without compensation,” a museum spokesperson said in a statement. “This marks the first time that the museum has resolved an ownership claim for works of art that were wrongfully taken under the conditions of slavery in the 19th-century US.”

Fatheree goes further, saying he believes their agreement “is groundbreaking in the art world.”

“The application of principles of ethical restitution to artwork created by enslaved Americans, this is the first time that has ever occurred to my knowledge,” he said in a video call.

Ethan Lasser, chair of the art of Americas at the MFA, said the museum has learned from its work restituting Nazi-looted art. “We’ve become very expert in Holocaust restitution. We’re dealing with (repatriation) issues in our African collections and Native American collections,” he said over the phone. “And we want to bring the same standard to the fullness of our collection.”

He considers Drake’s work an example of “stolen property,” too, “since the artist is always the first owner of his work and he never got to make the call about where it went or what he was paid for it.”

Born enslaved around 1800 in Edgefield, South Carolina, a region known for its rich clay, Drake (who was also known as Dave the Potter) was one of relatively few African American potters to sign his work. He also dared — despite punitive anti-literacy laws for enslaved people in the state — to etch short sayings or poems on the jars, making them powerful acts of resistance. Some inscriptions boast of the jar’s intended contents or enormous capacity; others remark more poignantly on his own life or working conditions.

The “Poem Jar,” which the MFA originally bought in 1997 from a dealer in South Carolina, features a couplet that hints at Drake’s financial exploitation. The inscription reads: “I made this Jar = for cash/Though its called Lucre trash.” Currently in a gallery for self-taught and outsider art at the museum, it will assume a more prominent spot at the entrance of the Art of Americas wing once renovated in June 2026. (The jar that Drake’s family now owns has a signature and date but no writing.)