American Toby Jug Museum 

Private Phil Butler character jug produced by Ben Quilty of New South Wales, Australia, in 2014. This character jug depicts an aspect of Private Phil Butler, an Australian Vietnam Veteran. Butler returned from the war suffering post-traumatic stress disorder, leaving his family to live on the streets. The disfigured looking face is expressively hewn, as if the clay has been pummeled and punctured into shape. Slip cast in austere white porcelain, the jug is finished with a gold luster glaze around the rim that seems to evoke the practice of decorating returned servicemen with medals and insignia. This juxtaposition implies a contradiction between the exaltation of war heroes and the psychological trauma that remains from their experience.