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I bought this jar in Manila, The Philippines, in November of 1978 from an antiques dealer who said he traveled to China and bought family relics in remote areas and brought them back for resale. I paid $250-$300 for it. The dealer said it was probably from the Ming dynasty because of the colors used in the jar, so it was probably 350 years old then, and that it was probably originally used to store opium. He told me not to say that to any customs inspector, though... Because the figure used twice around the jar ('front' and 'back', if there can be such a thing on a circular surface) and on the lid is a five-clawed dragon, he theorized that it once belonged to a member of the royal family.
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Re: Cloisonne Jar
The chances of this happening are very slim but I managed to locate the pipe that goes with this container. The pipe was auctioned off as either qing or early republic, not an imperially owned piece IMO but great designs nonetheless. The 5 clawed dragon would have been used to represent the emperor. The dragon, however, was commonly used as a sign of power and was depicted on a lot of period pieces. It was most likely an artists interpration but if you have the time some further research could be put into definitely finding out if there is any association or not with the imperial family. The fact I was able to find an identical match either means I found the one of a kind that accompanies it, or the more likely scenario that there was someone who made this pattern over and over again. If that is the case, I would lean towards believing these are closer to the early Republic period than the Qing dynasty.
Update- While I couldn't find any other identical works besides the pipe listed here, I was able to find multiple pipes with design elements indicating they were of the same maker most likely. Check under the lid of the jar, if you find a marking with an H as the others appear to have, that could confirm my thoughts. They all sell in the same price range of $200-300.
I suspect your jar would fall into that price range aswell, maybe more on a good day, and maybe less on a bad one.
http://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/11003599_chinese-cloisonn-enamel-decorated-metal-opium-pip
The pipe
Re: Cloisonne Jar
In taking a close look, they don't appear to be a direct match, but very very similar design styling..