WHAT ARE THEY? HOW OLD ARE THEY? ARE THEY MAJOLICA?

I bought these off a friend who hunts thrift stores with me. He said they were majolica, but you can see where paint is chipped on 1 figure's leg that it looks like red/orange pottery - is it majolica?
How old are these?
Finally - What the heck are these? (they look like soap dishes to me!)
Thank you for any help.

 

Not majolica, more likely "faience" (which some, like your friend, mistakenly equate with majolica.)
Very strange figures as handles and I have no clue how they were intended to be used. Could be from Spain or Portugal and maybe Italy.

 

Here we go again!

 

I;m 99% sure this guy isn't lovethehunt - he's Czech & doesn't speak english well enough to write the questions - he must buy them from him...then sell them to me?!!

 

Could these be salt cellars?

 

I know but I saw salt cellars on eBay that looked kinda like these?

 

ok

 

These were supposed to be holders for table salt. Unfortunately they are fakes. As for age I believe that they were probably made in the last ten or twenty. They were most probably made in Croatia, perhaps Bosnia or one the other countries along Adriatic Sea. These are not majolica but simply glazed earthenware. Notice the missing glaze on the knee of the blue figure. Majolica does not separate like that. The process of making majolica requires a high firing temperature that permanently fuses the glaze to body. The items lack a county of origin. That is done on purpose. In general it appears to be of Italian origin but none of the design elements can be traced to Italy.