Lady and the Unicorn Tapestry Wall Hangings - Tapestries with the Pictures of Unicorns

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Popular designs in the later Middle Ages were of seigniorial life or allegorical scenes and mille fleur tapestries, typified by the hundreds of tiny flowers that make up their backgrounds.

The most celebrated mille fleur tapestry, La Dame a la Licorne (The Lady and the Unicorn tapestry), is one of the master-pieces of tapestry of any age, and probably the most copied and reproduced.

The Unicorn (from Latin unus 'one' and cornu 'horn') is a legendary creature whose power is exceeded only by its mystery. The Unicorn is a horse-type animal with a single horn. During the Middle Ages a fable was told that although the Unicorn was impossible to hunt down, it was so impressed by the presence of a lovely virgin that it would run up to her and submissively lay its head in her lap. Pictures of unicorns were very popular in the Middle Ages.

The Lady and the Unicorn tapestry is a wonderfully delicate and enchanting set of six panels, which hung originally in the castle of Boussac. The tapestries show a lady and her handmaiden with a unicorn. Each of five panels represents one of the five senses: Smell, Hearing, Touch, Taste and Sight. The sixth panel, A Mon Seul Desir tapestry (To My Only Desire), shows the lady returning a necklace to a box held out by the maid. The title, which has been subject of much speculation in the past, is now taken to mean "only at my will", which is to say governed by reason not passion.

These famous unicorn tapestries were woven c.1490-1500 and are now on display in the Musee de Cluny in Paris.

The Lady and the Unicorn tapestry has been surrounded by many romantic theories about who commissioned it. One legend says that it was made for the wedding of Prince Zizim who had the tapestry woven for his lady love while he was in prison. Another one states that it represents Margaret of York, third wife of Charles the Bold of France.

The unicorn tapestries, astonishingly, have kept most of their wonderful blue and red background and the colors of the clothes and the mille fleurs. Both in the design and in the weaving, they have a unique flavour.

Decorate your home with our pictures of unicorns!