Featured Little African stone figurine. Antique Zambia?

Can anyone tell me anything about the origin and purpose of this little carved figurine?
It was bought in an antiques shop in Amsterdam in the early 70s. The seller said it came from a Dutch collector who got it from an archeological site in Zambia. The material seems to be some kind of blackened stone and is very hard.
The figure sits on a chair or throne, with a shield or crest in front of him. He has an elaborate hairdo or possibly a beaded headdress.
Thanks for looking.

 

I'm not implying that your piece IS, but it looks like a chess piece..........(?).

 

Yes, it does. I used to have another one, same material, that was a bit bigger, so it has always been a mystery to me.
I called the other one Kenneth Kaunda. Don't know if you remember KK, but it looked like him.

 

Huh! Meet him VERY briefly (not more than a handshake) at a reception in Washington D.C. in the late 1970s (not that I was "important", I was attached to a university that was involved with his State visit).

 

Well, then you know what the other one looked like.

 

Small figurines were used to assay African gold - However, they were normally cast in bronze... So i couldn't say for sure.

It makes some sense though, as you say the other one was a little bigger.

Ebay

 

Look for
Akan Asante Ashanti
gold weight
Kuduo

 

Yes, I know them well, I have a few Ashanti/Akan gold weights. But gold weights are from a region in West Africa formerly known as the Gold Coast. It has been a gold mining area since time immemorial. All gold weights are metal, preferably bronze.
Zambia is in a different part of Africa. Gold has only been mined there since the 60s, in a modern, industrial way. Traditional Zambians had nothing to do with gold.
Even if this little guy has nothing to do with Zambia, it is stylistically very far from West African figurines.

 

Sounds good to me, @Any Jewelry. What do you think he was used for?

 

I have no idea. Cult object, representation of a king when he was not there himself, funerary gift? Or even chess piece?

 

An art restorer, drawing from his vast and very colorful (read: bogus) life as a diamond trader and art smuggler between Belgium and Africa, identified this little guy as an Ashanti weight. That was the first time I ever heard of them. Actually not, he is Karl Hagenauer:

 

It is gorgeous, and very much the Hagenauer style.
I wonder what the bogus restorers work looked like.

 

It's actually quite beat up - missing a tail and ears

I worked for him when I was studying appraisal - he billed himself as an appraiser, as well. It quickly became plain he was a con artist. Stiffed me and a lot of other people.

OMG, I just googled him bc I knew he had complaints against him on BBB, but nothing like this Huffington post article! I would have redacted his name, but it seems to be widely known he's a fraud.

Man Behind $900 Million Appraisal Of Michael Jackson’s Art Might Not Be Credible

This is really funny, because I posted about a print I bought years ago that turned out to be by Nordahl - the artist hired by Michael Jackson to be his "Court Artist." It's like my own six degrees of separation from Nordahl!

This is pretty weird - My twists and turns with David Nordahl

Sorry to hijack your thread, Any Jewelry - I'll stop now

 

Don't apologize, this is riveting stuff! Sorry he stiffed you though.
Is this guy Belgian? His accent sounds Dutch Dutch (you tube video), meaning not Belgian Flemish Dutch, but he could have lived in The Netherlands.

About the Nordahl, it is beautiful. Did you ever find out who the person on the original photograph was? Otherwise I could have a browse through my books, I have all of the Curtis photographs and some by others as well. Not the originals of course, I wish.

 

I clean forgot about the video!

He is a very charismatic and funny guy, and look at that studio! Really looks legit. But he's had many evictions and business name changes. He is Belgian and also goes by the name Belgo and Dr of Restorations, among others.

There were SO MANY weird things that happened in my short time with him! He had a list of fine art for sale, some from very famous artists from 17th and 18th century - theoretically, I'd be paid commission if I did sell anything...

I assumed he was acting as an agent - when I sent the list to an art dealer (a friend) who very nicely told me at least one piece was was in the National Gallery of London and what was up with that? I've never claimed to be overly worldly, and hate to trifle my truly worldly friends - but that was embarrassing!

In his huge hoard of a warehouse, he had a large collection of a South American artist - I can't remember his name - I really wonder how he acquired it.

There were a lot of gold dust scams at the time - from Africa - Many people contacted him as he did know the procedure and requirements to import or transport gold, and diamonds for that matter. There was a lot of excitement until I googled the name on one of the letters: a well-known Ghanaian scam artist. Finzi knew it was a scam - he knew that amount of gold could never be transported out of Africa - but planned on squeezing some kind of commission or fee for helping see the transaction through.

He declined to enter most galleries and vintage stores, claiming they owed him money, when of course, he owed them (as well a me)!

I Did look thru many Curtis archives, but never found that one...

 

Could we see the bottom of it?

I think an experienced examiner (meaning more experienced than me) would get a big clue as to age, technique, and tools used from the very regular parallel channels on and near the item's neck. I don't think you can make those with hammer and chisel, so what was used there?

 

i don't know what the hell this thing is...but it looks like a chess piece...

here's one from Iceland...

 

It does, whether it is or not, I would like to know more about it. If it is a chess piece, I wonder what the style is, what it is based on.
The Icelandic chess piece looks a bit like the Lewis chess set, a 12th century set from the Isle of Lewis in Scotland. That one is probably Norwegian, so there is a Viking link.
No link yet for my little guy
Here is a picture of the bottom. As I took it, I noticed a repair, the diagonal line, it continues barely noticeable in the seat:

 

When using Google Images for African Chess Set I saw many sets with this theme - some as "rough", some not, but nothing EXACTLY the same...............

 

I googled it too, and came up with nothing. But working title is African chess piece with repair.
Did see a beautiful Indian piece though, which I would gladly trade KK's little friend for: