The term 'Spanish Pulpit' has evolved to describe this type of set, the origins of which remain a mystery. It is considered that these sets are British, dating from 18th to the early 19th Centuries and associated to the craft work produced by the Napoleonic prisoners of war. See Michael Mark, fig. 34 for a similar set, dated from late 18th to the early 19th Century. A similar set to this lot is also illustrated in Hans und Barbara Holländer, fig. 247, page 250.