A VERY FINE INLAID ROSEWOOD DODECAHEDRON CANE
Circa late 19th century

35 1/2" H

An unusual walking stick featuring a knob handle in the form of a dodecahedron, with twelve geometric planes and an additional flat face at the top. Each facet is inlaid with rosewood, the overall design intersected by ivory and ebony banding around the upper shaft. The shaft itself is of tapering rosewood, fitted with an ivory ferrule and retaining a rawhide hanging strap.

Curator’s Note:
The dodecahedron has carried symbolic meaning since antiquity, often associated with the cosmos and universal order. Each of its twelve faces is a pentagon, inherently tied to the pentagram, and its symbol carried deep resonance within Masonic and Hermetic traditions. There it represents harmony, proportion and the microcosm. Renaissance and Enlightenment thinkers often considered the dodecahedron as a symbol of the “cosmos” or “universe”. As one of the five geometrical shapes known as the Platonic solids, the dodecahedron was described by Plato as the shape “used for the whole heaven”, the elemental structure of “ether”. Influenced by Plato's ideas and using Platonic solids to describe the motion of the planets, Johannes Kepler assigned the dodecahedron as the structure of Mars.

In the 19th century, the adoption of this form in decorative objects such as canes reflected both an interest in geometric novelty and a recognition of its esoteric symbolism. Dodecahedron canes are rare, crafted as conversation pieces and sometimes as emblems of intellectual, philosophical, or Masonic affiliation.

Condition: Light wear along the shaft, scattered surface marks to the inlays, strap worn with age.

ref. 503SGY05P