VRA Core 4 Example 11: Tapestry series

Collection record [refid 24]
agent	unknown (Netherlandish tapestry weaver)
culturalContext	Netherlandish; French; Flemish
date	ca. 1495-1505 (creation)
description	As early as the seventeenth century, the Unicorn Tapestries were documented as having been displayed as a group. Surely they were collected and exhibited together because together they illustrate the pursuit of the elusive unicorn so completely and in such astonishing detail, despite the likelihood that the seven individual hangings may come from two or more sets of tapestries. Little is known about their early history, though the seven hangings are thought to have been designed in Paris and woven in Brussels (then part of the Netherlands) between 1495-1505. They include the depiction of 101 species of plants, of which over 85 have been identified. The vibrant colors still evident today were produced with three dye plants: weld (yellow), madder (red), and woad (blue). The earliest document listing the seven tapestries is a 1680 inventory that details the possessions in the Paris residence of François VI de La Rochefoucauld. They were purchased from the Rochefoucauld family by John D. Rockefeller.
inscription
location	Metropolitan Museum of Art; The Cloisters (New York, New York, United States) [repository] [location note] Gift of John D. Rockefeller Jr., 1937
material	wool; metallic threads; silk
measurements
relation
rights
source	Core 4 Sample Database (VCat) [source, description] Metropolitan Museum of Art [website]; http://www.metmuseum.org (accessed 5/30/2009)
stateEdition
stylePeriod	Medieval
subject	allegorical; animals; cycles or series; decorative arts; literary or legendary; plants; Animals, Mythical; Hunting in art; Unicorns; botanical studies; flowery mead; flowery mede; Mediaeval gardens; Middle Ages
technique	tapestry (process)
textref
title	The Hunt of the Unicorn [en, cited, preferred] Unicorn Tapestries [en, repository, alternate]
worktype	furnishings; wall hangings; tapestries