# Prayer Bench (Prie-Dieu)

- By: Giovanni Battista Galletti (Turin, Duchy of Savoy (now Italy))
- Date: c. 1770–75
- Medium: Boxwood, ebony, walnut, poplar, pine, and iron
- Classification: Furniture
- Dimensions: 86.7 × 77.8 × 58.5 cm (34 1/8 × 30 5/8 × 23 in.)
- Culture: Turin
- Credit line: Mary Waller Langhorne Memorial Fund; purchased with funds provided by Kay and Frederick Krehbiel; Irish Gala Purchase Fund; purchased with funds provided by John W. and Patricia O'Brien and Gayle Tilles; Neville and John Bryan Fund
- Museum: [Art Institute of Chicago](https://www.artic.edu/artworks/179971)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://www.artic.edu/iiif/2/dd38fb3d-8507-4257-16cc-2636a8ce2117/full/!1920,1080/0/default.jpg
- Who can see it: Tweens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

The surface of this prie-dieu—a kneeling bench used for prayer—is inlaid with an intricate, geometric veneer of boxwood and ebony. This complex marquetry design over the prie-dieu’s undulating facade attests to the high degree of technical skill that was the hallmark of cabinetmakers at the royal court of Savoy at Turin in what is now Italy. A door in the center of the prie-dieu conceals a small cabinet for a rosary and prayer books, and the drawer at the base would have held a padded cushion to kneel on.

Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0