Antique Staffordshire Pottery Figural Snuff Taker

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Modelled in lead-glazed earthenware as an expressive character taking a pinch of tobacco, this large two-part jar features a detachable … Read more Modelled in lead-glazed earthenware as an expressive character taking a pinch of tobacco, this large two-part jar features a detachable head and shoulders that lift away to serve as a deep cover. The hollow lower torso and skirt form a generous storage cavity, originally designed to keep communal snuff or pipe tobacco protected on a tavern counter. The figure displays the rich, hand-painted on-glaze palette associated with Victorian Staffordshire character novelties. She is depicted wearing a spotted white bonnet trimmed in turquoise over parted brown hair, draped in a yellow shawl with a painted cross pendant. A deep cobalt blue bodice sits over an apron applied with two prominent patch pockets, while the flared skirt is painted with vertical stripes of rose pink, turquoise, and soft yellow. In mid-nineteenth-century Britain, particularly around 1860, figural jars of this substantial size were popular working fixtures in public houses and tobacco merchants. Patrons could lift the upper section to access the tobacco held within, while the comical, animated expression of the snuff-taker served as visual advertising for the counter trade. Standing 30 cm in height and measuring 12 cm in width, the jar is slip-cast and press-moulded with thick ceramic walls. See less