Luckily, we have some extant furniture of the Merovingian period hiding out in various museums, abbeys, and wassnames. Here are some examples….

6th Century –

Reading desk of Queen Radegund, buried at the Abbaye Sainte-Croix de Poitiers.

This desk is heavily carved with the lamb as the image of Christ, represented in the center box and symbols of the four evangelists, monogrammatiques crosses and banners with and two facing doves the chrism surround the center. I haven’t been able to find out what wood it is made of, so if anyone knows, please leave the information in comments.

Color image of Reading Desk of Saint Radegund - source unknown

Black and White images of Reading Desk of Saint Radegund - source unknown

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