The State Hermitage Museum: Exhibitions

18th- and 19th-Century Walking Sticks from the Hermitage Collection

The walking sticks of Peter the Great

Left to right:
The stick is made of hollow Spanish reed with a screw-on ivory handle. Measuring instruments are contained inside. Peter the Great used such sticks when he visited building sites and shipyards.
Russia
Early 18th century
Length 90 cm

This stick is made of ivory and decorated with superb carved ornament in the form of a laurel twig. The handle is shaped like an extended cube with a crown-like top.
Russia
18th century
Length 92 cm

A cane made of light-coloured bulrush with a wooden handle decorated with silver rings. A small spyglass is mounted in the handle.
Russia
Early 18th century
Length 101.5 cm

This stick is made from the polished tusk of a narwhal, a rare arctic cetacean. Items made of this material have always been considered rarities. They were valued very highly and greatly prized by their owners. Peter the Great, who was very fond of walking sticks, owned this particular narwhal-tusk walking stick.
Russia
Early 18th century
Length 86 cm

This spyglass stick is made of hollow Spanish reed. It has an ivory handle and a copper tip that screws on to protect the lens of the spyglass. The lens has survived.
Russia
Early 18th century
Length 91.5 cm