The term 'Spanish Pulpit' has evolved to describe this type of set, the origins of which remain a mystery, although it's now thought that these sets are British. See Michael Mark, fig. 34. for a similar set dated from late 18th to the early 19th Century. Mark states that these sets stylistically suggest a date from 17th Century to 1830. A similar set to this lot is also illustrated in in Hans und Barbara Holländer, fig. 247, page 250.