Eagle lectern
An eagle lectern is a lectern in the shape of an eagle on whose outstretched wings the Bible or other texts rest. They are common in Christian churches and may be in stone, wood or metal, usually brass.
History
Eagle lecterns in stone were a well-established feature of large Romanesque pulpits in Italy. The carved marble eagle on the Pulpit in the Pisa Baptistery by Nicola Pisano is a famous example, and they also feature on his Siena Cathedral Pulpit, and his son's at Sant' Andrea, Pistoia. These are projections from the stone ledge or the pulpit, but wood and brass examples usually top a stand that brings them to the appropriate height.Medieval examples survive in a number of English churches, including the church of St Margaret in King's Lynn and the parish church in Ottery St Mary; they appear to have been often regarded as harmless by the iconoclasts of the English Reformation and English Commonwealth, surviving when most church art was destroyed.
In the later Middle Ages, they became a common showpiece for the developing brassworking industry, initially mainly in the Low Countries and in Mosan art, but then spreading elsewhere. The brass Dunkeld Lectern is another notable medieval eagle lectern, made in Scotland, but taken as a trophy to and fro between Scotland and England. Medieval lecterns sometimes depict the eagle grasping a snake in its beak, and sometimes the bird has two heads.