Humorous and highly decorative figural Majolica ceramic tobacco jar in the shape of a suave frog in a double-breasted red smoking jacket and black ascot, thoughtfully smoking a pipe.

In the Victorian era, pipe smokers kept their tobacco in a decorative tobacco jar or humidor. Figural tobacco jars were produced mainly in ceramic, typically heads or full figures of people and animals, generally 12 inches or less in height. Most such jars were produced in Bohemia (now part of the Czech Republic) and Germany in the middle to late Victorian era, when pipe smoking replaced snuff as the preferred means of using tobacco.

References:

Horowitz, Joseph. "Figural humidors - Mostly Victorian," Number 721.

Horowitz, Joseph L "What Are Figural Tobacco Jars?" The Journal of Antiques and Collectibles. September 2000. http://www.journalofantiques.com/featursept.htm (3 September 2002).