Samoan
John LaFarge's Walking Stick, about 1890
Coconut or breadfruit wood , 96.52 cm (38 in.)
General admission for children 17 years and under is always free
Long Gallery
Commentary
A Samoan islander gave this walking stick to artist John LaFarge during his journey throughout the South Pacific between 1890 and 1891. Years later, when LaFarge visited Isabella Stewart Gardner at her museum, he pointed to a display case in the Long Gallery and said “There! That is where this stick...should be some time.” After LaFarge’s death, she enshrined his “favorite stick & great companion” in the spot he had indicated.