Folk Carved Walking Stick with Eagle Handle

During the Tang and Song dynasties, the imperial court created a class of intellectual and artistically trained literati. During times of political instability, some of these scholars were exiled from court life and sought refuge in the wilderness. In the subsequent, more stable times, literati were reconciled with imperial life but the romantic notion of a scholar immersed in nature gained lived on. Such musings likely accompanied a scholar plying his way through a garden or forest with the aid of this Qing-dynasty walking stick, rustically carved from wood and topped with an eagle, a symbol of strength.