Late 16th-century walnut lectern by Florentine wood carvers. From the choir of Santa Maria del Fiore. The most valuable part of this great lectern, used to prop up the codices detailing the prayers to be sung or recited in chorus, is its richly-carved hexagonal base. The main panels display the Medici arms in oval lozenges. This device, together with the lectern’s geometric elements and the female faces on its rounded edges, are very similar to the decorative motifs adopted by Vasari in Palazzo Vecchio. The upper part of the lectern, realized in the 20th century, is much plainer; its only decoration the ledges on which books and papers were propped.