Yes, that’s why I wrote they lied. But Dyrham Park isn’t an official museum. It’s a house where visitors can visit to see how William Blathwayt lived.

Leaving them on display as decor can be interpreted as not being sensitive to how the wealth was amassed on the literal backs of slaves. I hope there is contextual signage for the representations to explain their history and why they are still on display.

From the New Yorker (2021):

“The slave figures hold scallop shells over their heads. These were probably filled with rosewater, so guests could wash their hands. The stands were acquired by William Blathwayt, the owner and principal builder of Dyrham Park, shortly before 1700. Contemporary accounts describe him as a dull, efficient man, “very dextrous in business,” who acquired knowledge, jobs, and an ability to make things happen. At one point, Blathwayt simultaneously served as the secretary of state, the secretary of war, and the auditor of the nation’s nascent imperial accounts. Between 1680 and his death, thirty-seven years later, Blathwayt helped to administer the rapidly growing slave-based sugar and tobacco economies of England’s Caribbean and American colonies.”