A Franco-Flemish Gothic tapestry fragment circa 1500-1525, possibly Tournai

Mr. and Mrs. John D. McIlhenny
Mrs. John Wintersteen and Mr. Henry P. McIlhenny, donated 1946

Restoration and piecing throughout, including much of brown-colored ground, claw of griffin, and surrounding part of barricade. Some open warps and splits. Some fading. Later binding sewn to edge.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
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RELATED LITERATURE
Adolfo Salvatore Cavallo, Medieval Tapestries in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1993, pp. 575-585

This tapestry features a picketed fence, which  would have formed an enclosure, an element that was often seen in late 15th and early 16th century weavings which included various combinations of animals and human figures. Some of these tapestries may represent the Garden of Eden or the hortus conclusus, itself a metaphor for the Virgin and the Immaculate Conception, or perhaps the classical locus amonenus, the "lovely place". Compare a group of tapestries featuring a fenced enclosure containing deer and a fountain, with other beasts surrounding the fence (see for examples Gothic Art: Collection Assembled by the Count and Countess de Kermaingant, American Art Association, New York, November 27th, 1926, lots 176-8). Two similar tapestries also include a unicorn, which represented purity during the Renaissance, dipping its horn into a pool of water (ibid. lot 179, and Les fastes de la tapisserie du XVe au XVIIIe siècle, exh. cat., Musée Jacquemart-André, Paris, 1984, no. 1).