Religious furniture is furniture made for use in places of worship or for private devotion. It includes altars and altar tables, pews, choir stalls, pulpits, lecterns, prayer desks, credence tables, bishops' chairs, vestment chests and hymn-board stands, as well as smaller domestic pieces such as prie-dieux and devotional cabinets.
Surviving English examples range from medieval oak chests and carved bench ends to Jacobean pulpits and the large quantities of fittings produced during the Victorian Gothic Revival, when architects such as Pugin, Butterfield and Scott designed complete church interiors. Oak and pitch pine were the main timbers, often carved with tracery, quatrefoils, crosses and poppyhead finials, and sometimes decorated with brass mounts or painted inscriptions. Changes in worship and the closure of churches have brought many pieces onto the market. Collectors look for good carving, solid construction and original surfaces, and value documented provenance from a named church or architect. Some pieces may require permission before removal from consecrated buildings, so documentation matters. In domestic interiors, a carved lectern, prayer desk or choir stall can make a striking piece in a library, hall or study.
