Folding Altar Lectern

Culture: French
Date: c.1500
Material: Bronze
made in: France, Europe
Classification: Metalwork, tools & equipment
Collection: Decorative Arts and Design
Current Location: On View, Gallery 237
Dimensions: top support raised: 11 x 12 7/8 x 11 3/8 in. (27.9 x 32.7 x 28.9 cm)
top support flat: 4 1/8 x 12 7/8 x 11 3/8 in. (10.5 x 32.7 x 28.9 cm)
Credit Line: Museum Purchase
Rights: Public Domain
Object Number: 85:1949

NOTES

This bookstand, designed to hold one of the books used by the priest during Mass, exemplifies the elegance of Gothic art. The central motif-a series of curves forming a star-is reminiscent of the lacelike forms used in Gothic architecture.

Provenance

by 1947 - 1949
Brummer Gallery, Inc. (Joseph Brummer, d.1947), New York, NY

1949 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, purchased through R. Stora & Company, at the sale of the Joseph Brummer Collection, Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, June 8-9, 1949, lot no. 92 [1]

Notes:
[1] Listed as being the collection of the late Joseph Brummer in the 1949 sales catalogue ["Classical and Medieval Stone Sculpturest: Part III of the Art Collection Belonging to the Estate of the Late Joseph Brummer," Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, June 8-9, 1949, lot no. 92, p. 17]. Minutes of the Administrative Board of Control of the City Art Museum, October 6, 1949.

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