It is very rare for wooden Renaissance pulpits to have survived to this day. In the long history of this remarkable piece, tradition has it that it was used by St. Francis Xavier when preaching in India, while another tradition suggests that it belonged to a church in Vila do Conde.
The characteristics of Portuguese furniture from the first half of the 16th century can be found here. There are Gothic ornaments, such as the fantastic animals with arched backs at the base and the pinnacles separating the panels; as well as Renaissance motifs, such symmetrical grotesques, vegetal motifs, cornucopias and imaginary birds.