Reading stand. Egypt, ca. 1500.Walnut, bone and boxwood.Missing inlay.Measurements: 36 x 27 x 8 cm.Lectern of Granada manufacture, from around 1500, which could be either from a private home or for ecclesiastical use for reading the Holy Scriptures. It is made of a walnut base with inlaid bone and boxwood. Typical decoration with eight-pointed stars, borders and geometric ornaments.The inlay technique consists of making mosaics and other figurative elements by applying different materials which, combined together, create geometric shapes and drawings of infinite forms. In this way, the different pieces fit perfectly together. To do this, the craftsmen make several large pieces in which they join the different materials to form the desired pattern. They are then cut into thin sheets, which are combined with others and finished off with metals, mother-of-pearl, ivory, tortoiseshell, bone, etc. In some cases gold and silver are used, and they can have hundreds of different elements. Its origin seems to be in Mesopotamia around 3000 BC, but it was brought to Spain and Granada by the Muslims. In this city, in particular, this technique has become its own.