Just my .98 cents, but I have yet to see a piece like this featuring a squirrel where it wasn't nut related. My thoughts are possibly a waste bowl, like for shells, or if it's too small for that, perhaps a Jordan almond service, or other, unshelled, smaller nuts. There's never been an instance in my entire experience in which a piece that features a squirrel (sitting on a cracked shell, no less,) was symbolically or euphemistically tied to any other table-served food or condiment.
It's one of those blissfully rare occasions when you know, at least, what, it was used for, if not how.
