The Lady and the Unicorn
Lot 92

The Lady and the Unicorn

Flanders, circa 1500

Closed25 October 2019

Price Realised

GBP 539,250

More Information

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The Lady and the Unicorn
Flanders, circa 1500
woven with a central, elegantly attired lady with a leashed polecat (?) on one hand and a flower in the other, to the right, a lady cradling a unicorn in her lap and to the left, a youth feeding an exotic bird on his arm, carrying a pouch with the initials AE, all woven against an indigo ground with naturalistic mille-fleurs and the occasional rabbit
142cm x 248cm

Formerly thought to have been part of the La Rochefoucault family collection, France
Jean Dolfus (1823-1911), France
Gogue-Robin collection, France
Jacques Bacri collection, Paris

Specialist note

Compare the series of seven mille-fleurs tapestries in the Cloisters, Metropolitan Museum New York, Aquisition Numbers 37.80.1-6 also woven on an indigo blue background with strikingly similar mille-fleurs background, and which bear the same initials, that is to say 'AE' as woven on the wallet carried by the figure on the left.

The Metropolitan Museum’s examples were formerly attributed to the La Rochefoucault family, The initials were thought to refer to Francois, son of Jean II de La Rochefoucault and Marguerite de Barbezieux, specifically to the first and last letters of his wife Antoinette d’Amboise, and their son Antoine.

It seems likely that the present example was probably part of the same commission.