Period: Late Gothic
Date: 1495–1505
Collection: The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Object no.: 467642

The Unicorn Rests in a Garden (from the Unicorn Tapestries)

Unknown South Netherlandish weavers, after a French cartoon, 1495–1505

Tapestry of a white unicorn resting inside a low circular fence beneath a pomegranate tree, on a dense ground of flowering plants

Maker: Unknown South Netherlandish weavers, after a French cartoon
Date: 1495–1505
Medium: Wool warp with wool, silk, silver, and gilt wefts
Dimensions: 368 × 251.5 cm
Period: Late Gothic

Why it matters

The unicorn lies within a low fence, chained loosely to a pomegranate tree, on a ground of flowering plants. The Met suggests the hanging may have been made as a single image rather than as part of the hunting series with which it is displayed, and reads the tethered but unconfined animal, the ripe pomegranates and the plants around it as an image of marriage. The red marks on its flank appear to be pomegranate juice rather than blood.

The Met collection record