Featured Is This a Lamp or Something Else, an' How Old is It?

Aside from a faintly crystalline structure, much harder than soapstone...an' the almost complete lack of tool-marks, or any other potentially helpful indicators...I cannot offer much in the way of observational clues about this charming chunk of stone.
If it is a lamp, there is no hint of oil saturation anywhere, especially in or near the bowl...so it's never been used for-purpose. Viewed from the side there is a remote resemblance to a waterfowl, but the lack of features about the head makes that improbable, so it's just a knob-grip? The bowl is ~2 1/2" x ~2"; its capacity might be as much as an ounce of liquid. Contrary to most lamps that resemble this open, shallow fount pattern (an' which are mostly fashioned of clay) there is no accommodation for a wick. I wonder what I've got?
It weighs almost 10 ounces. Google Lens wasn't much help.
Thanks for lookin'!

 

Some sort of mortar?

 

Hmm...I suppose it could be. Perhaps for medicinal herbs & etc?

 

You could put a bit of water in it, and drink the water.
If you start feeling better, then it was used for medicinal herbs.
If you start seeing purple bunnies, then it was used for another type of herbs

 

The shape and material remind me of African sculpture.

 

I would say mortar as well with the knob allowing you to hold on to it while grinding .