American Toby Jug Museum 

Merlin character jug designed by Peter Jackson and produced in Malaysia for Franklin Porcelain of London, England, in a 1982 limited edition sold on a subscription basis. The enchanter of Arthurian romance, Merlin was likely based on a Welsh bard of the sixth century named Myrddin. Geoffrey of Monmouth transformed Myrddin into Merlin, the magician, trusted counselor of King Arthur. In the "History of the Kings of Britain", Geoffrey tells how Merlin prophesied that the British, led by King Arthur, would defeat the Saxons. The wizard is later described bringing Stonehenge from Ireland and erecting it on Salisbury Plain and also arranging the conception of Arthur. Although the Arthurian Romances cast Merlin as Arthur's mentor throughout his reign, in the original legends he disappears soon after Arthur's coronation. In Tennyson's "Idylls of the King" he is deceived by the Lady of the Lake who tricks him into divulging his magic and then uses his spells to imprison him forever in an oak tree.