Are these figures old or made recently? What are they for?

I'm assuming these are Chinese. I got them a couple of years ago in a miscellaneous auction lot. The lack of dirt suggests they're new but then who would be buying them and what is the function of the 'pot'/ vessel to the right of each figure? If they are old, how old? They are quite small, all just 3.25" high, and are handpainted. If you examine the 2 Chinese sage ones, you might notice that on one the pot is slightly more distant from the figure than on the other which indicates that they were manually assembled. Also, is that a face on the front (and back) of the sage vessels? The lady has considerable crazing but the sages do not. All 3 appear to be porcelain.

 

These are typical of early post war Japanese work, they made pieces like this when their industry was just starting to rebuild, you sometimes find them with 'Made in Occupied Japan' stamps. They were intended as toothpick holders.

 

I don't think they are Chinese, maybe German fairing type pieces?

 

Now I think about it, yes, Japan sounds right.

 

Agree, post war Japan.