Carved and Paint Decorated “Snake” Walking Cane - Sold
American, Early 19th Century
Pine
Length: 38 ^1/2 inches

Folk art walking cane featuring tapered handle over base-relief carved tools, and pierced snake-carved body. The long shape of the cane was ideally suited for incorporating the snake form and it was a very popular motif.

This American folk art example, with striped and spotted snakes slithering up the handle, also incorporates an anvil, bellows and other tools, which are carved in low-relief, and which may refer to a fraternal organization. The act of piercing, or undercutting, the shaft often weakens the cane structurally, and demonstrates the skill of the anonymous maker of this particular cane.