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11-1 Pastoral concert

Tapestries were luxurious items used to decorate the walls of stone buildings, but they also played more practical roles, providing insulation and acting as room dividers. One advantage of tapestries was that they could be removed and transported with their owners for use in a new residence. This fragment comes from a tapestry featuring a design called mille fleurs (thousand flowers). Tapestries of this kind would have been produced in sets that could be used to completely cover the walls in a space. In many cases, they depicted scenes connected to aristocratic life. In this fragment, a man and a woman dressed in luxurious garments play musical instruments, while below them are a young valet and a lady-in-waiting. Images of lovers playing music together were traditionally used as motifs that symbolized the harmony of love. The lady-in-waiting in the foreground holds a pear, considered to be symbolic of a fruitful union, suggesting that this musical performance will end happily.