A fascinating and mysterious carving with nine hands around the stick, interspersed with carpentry tools and lizards. The top has a conjoined shorebird feeding its young and a dog’s head.
Though the meaning is not known—the tools and hands make me think of “helping hands.” Or from a different perspective, the religious act of “laying on of hands.”
Provenance: Southern Collection
Literature: for a cane by the same hand see, Carved & Whittled Sculpture: American Folk Art Walking Sticks, Selections from the Pamela and Tim Hill Collection, page 98.
HIGH RESOLUTION IMAGES AVAILABLE.
Condition: Overall excellent, save for scattered losses of paint and the adjoining branch has some loss at the bottom (from long ago).