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Monkey Head Humidor
Austria, 1st Quarter 20th Century |
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Monkey Head Humidor
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Humorous and decorative figural Majolica ceramic humidor tobacco jar in the shape of a monkey portrait head. The smiling monkey has a pipe in his mouth and sports a cap decorated with cord, buttons and feathers, which forms the lid.
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. Condition: Very good original condition with only minor wear. Tiny chip and hairline crack to rim of the base. Reference: Horowitz, Joseph. "Figural humidors - Mostly Victorian," Number 671. 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). |