The Toby Jug, also known as fillpot was first developed and popularized in England at around 1762 by the Staffordshire potter Ralph Wood. The jug depicts a seated man wearing an English ‘tricorn’ hat and holding a mug of beer and a glass or pipe. It can also be a small pottery pitcher or mug modeled in the form of a jolly, stout man wearing a cocked hat, a corner of which serves as pourer.

The name is derived from Toby Fillpot, inebriate character in the 18th century song Little Brown Jug. Popular in England and America of that day, the Toby Jug has became and remains an expensive and colllectable item in antique sales.