The Gothic series The Hunt of the Unicorn are significant in European tapestry history. While the originals hang in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, copies are being woven to hang at Stirling Castle. Presently, six of the seven tapestries are complete.
With the help of Wikipedia, I'll give you the run down on the story behind the tapestries.
In the series, richly dressed noblemen, accompanied by huntsmen and hounds, pursue a unicorn against mille-fleur backgrounds or settings of buildings and gardens. They bring the animal to bay with the help of a maiden who traps it with her charms, appear to kill it, and bring it back to a castle; in the last and most famous panel, "The Unicorn in Captivity," the unicorn is shown alive again and happy, chained to a pomegranate tree surrounded by a fence, in a field of flowers. Scholars conjecture that the red stains on its flanks are not blood but rather the juice from pomegranates, which were a symbol of fertility. However, the true meaning of the mysterious resurrected Unicorn in the last panel is unclear. The series was woven about 1500 in the Low Countries, probably Brussels or Liège, for an unknown patron.
This is a picture of the seventh and final taspestry.
The Unicorn is also significant enough to be represented in the Royal Coat of Arms of Scotland.
Do you suppose they need these tapestries cleaned from time to time? LOL
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Jeff ... Should they hit me up for a recommendation, I know a guy :)
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