South Netherlandish
Baroque | Late 17th Century
Oak | Carved in full round | With original polychrome | On later metal base
H. 61 cm. Base 16,5 cm.
PROVENANCE
Private collection | United Kingdom
Anonymous sale | Sotheby’s | London | 4 December 2013 | Lot 8o | With ill.
Private collection | Oud-Turnhout | Belgium
CATALOGUE NOTE
These impressive eagles would have once comprised a rare pair of lecterns on the choir of a church. These eagles – the symbol of Saint John the Evangelist – with outspread wings and standing on a globe, originally formed the top of a lectern or bookrest which was used for reading from the Gospels. A comparable lectern dating to the 17th century can be found in the Sint-Petrus church in Gijverinkhove (Kik/Irpa nr. 34975). An early 18th century example is kept in the Sint-Pieterskerk in Turnhout, Belgium (Kik/Irpa nr. 49184). The thick claws and the heavily feathered wings are very close to those on a Netherlandish late 17th or early 18th-century walnut lectern which was offered at Sotheby’s London on 31 October 2007, as lot 235. It is very rare to find a pair of eagle lecterns.