Figure and Snake Carving

Dateca. 1925

OriginAmerica, North Carolina, Greenville area (probably)

MediumHickory, paint, leather, and metal

DimensionsOH. 29"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1994.701.2

DescriptionA figure of a man, nude except for a loin cloth, stands atop a turned stick (square in cross section at the top), his arms at his sides. A snake coils around the white-painted shaft and stares upwards at him. The stick is set into a metal base.
Label TextWhen this carved staff entered the folk art collection in the mid-1990s, the figure was identified as a Native American man. Recent research has revealed another staff of identical size and composition, but with a female figure. Together, the two may represent Adam and Eve with their serpent tempter close at hand. Based on provenance and an inscribed “N.C.” on the female staff, they appear to have been made in Eastern North Carolina around the turn of the 20th century. Curiously, the heads of both figures shows no trace of use as a grip, and the bottom of both staffs is not worn. The overall fragility of the figures at the top of each staff may indicate that their purpose was as ceremonial or display object, rather than use as a walking aid.
ProvenancePurchased by John L. Long in Greenville, North Carolina