American Toby Jug Museum 

Porthos toby jug produced by Sylvan Pottery of Hanley, England, circa 1950. Porthos is a fictional character in the novels "The Three Musketeers", "Twenty Years After" and "The Vicomte de Bragelonne" by Alexandre Dumas. He and the other two musketeers, Athos and Aramis, are friends of the novel's protagonist, d'Artagnan. Honest and slightly gullible, Porthos is the extrovert of the group, enjoying wine, women and song. Porthos is a good-hearted braggart of huge physical strength. As the story advances, he looks more and more of a giant, and his death is that of a titan. The fictional Porthos is very loosely based on the historical musketeer, Isaac de Portau, born in Pau in 1617. Although lacking in delicacy, as portrayed by Dumas, Porthos is a good man and may well have been modeled after the author's father. The feather plume from Porthos' hat forms the handle of the jug.