Walking stick with a female nude and a Breton sabot on the handle

Walking stick with a female nude and a Breton sabot on the handle

Paul Gauguin

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Gauguin made five trips to Brittany between 1886 and 1894. He liked the region's "savage, primitive" quality. His perception is embodied in the carving of this walking stick, with its snake-entwined shaft and handle in the form of a female nude supporting a Breton wooden shoe. The sole of the shoe slides open to reveal a hidden compartment.

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Walking stick with a female nude and a Breton sabot on the handleWalking stick with a female nude and a Breton sabot on the handleWalking stick with a female nude and a Breton sabot on the handleWalking stick with a female nude and a Breton sabot on the handleWalking stick with a female nude and a Breton sabot on the handle

The fifty thousand objects in the Museum's comprehensive and historically important collection of European sculpture and decorative arts reflect the development of a number of art forms in Western European countries from the early fifteenth through the early twentieth century. The holdings include sculpture in many sizes and media, woodwork and furniture, ceramics and glass, metalwork and jewelry, horological and mathematical instruments, and tapestries and textiles. Ceramics made in Asia for export to European markets and sculpture and decorative arts produced in Latin America during this period are also included among these works.