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111-396: Tapestries were a popular luxury good that used visual imagery to entertain and delight the audiences of aristocratic households. The wealthy used tapestries to cover entire walls, which had a practical use because they aided in insulation during colder months. The sport of hunting was a common subject in tapestries as well as a favored activity amongst the elite members of society. Hunting

222-494: A frieze shape, of a large long tapestry that is relatively short in height. These were apparently designed to hang around a hall or church, probably rather high; surviving examples have nearly all been preserved in churches, but may originally have been secular. The Cloth of Saint Gereon, from around 1000, has a repeat pattern centred on medallions with a motif of a bull being attacked by a griffin , taken from Byzantine silk (or its Persian equivalent) but probably woven locally in

333-408: A loom . Normally it is used to create images rather than patterns. Tapestry is relatively fragile, and difficult to make, so most historical pieces are intended to hang vertically on a wall (or sometimes in tents), or sometimes horizontally over a piece of furniture such as a table or bed. Some periods made smaller pieces, often long and narrow and used as borders for other textiles . Most weavers use

444-511: A British man in his 60s during an early morning walk in Singapore Botanic Gardens . Despite weighing over 200 pounds, he was trampled and bitten and could not stand up without help from a nearby rescuer. The man speculated that another runner might have stepped on one of the animals earlier, and wished that there could be more lighting installed at that location. Norse mythology tells of the dwarf Ótr habitually taking

555-425: A Habsburg patron, show an advanced Renaissance compositional style adapted to tapestries. These have a hunting scene for each month in the year, and also show specific locations around the city. Goya was still designing hunting scenes in the 1770s. After a probable gap since the 11th century, in the late 14th century sets of tapestries returned as the grandest medium for "official military art ", usually celebrating

666-505: A bevy, family, lodge, romp, or raft when in water, indicating their social and playful characteristics. Otters are known for their distinct feces, termed spraints , which can vary in smell from freshly mown hay to putrefied fish. Otters exhibit a varied life cycle with a gestation period of about 60–86 days, and offspring typically stay with their family for a year. They can live up to 16 years, with their diet mainly consisting of fish and sometimes frogs , birds, or shellfish , depending on

777-522: A feature of allegorical and courtly subjects. The Lady and the Unicorn set in Paris are famous examples, from around 1500. Millefleur backgrounds became very common for heraldic tapestries, which were one of the most popular relatively small types, usually more tall than wide. These usually featured the coat of arms of the patron in the centre, with a wide floral field. They would often be hung behind

888-618: A few large figures in the foreground. The French tapestries commissioned by Louis XIV of the victories early in his reign were of this type. Right at the end of the 16th century, a set (now in Madrid) was commissioned of the Triumphs and battles of Archduke Albert , who had just been made sovereign of the Spanish Netherlands (his military career had in fact been rather unsuccessful). The city council of Antwerp ordered it from

999-655: A figurative design. Some embroidered works, like the Bayeux Tapestry , meet the second definition but not the first. The situation is complicated by the French equivalent tapisserie also covering needlepoint work, which can lead to confusion, especially with pieces such as furniture covers, where both techniques are used. According to the Oxford English Dictionary , the earliest use in English

1110-621: A grand set depicting the Acts of the Apostles . These were sent from Rome and used the latest monumental classicizing High Renaissance style, which was also reaching the north through prints. Hunting scenes were also very popular. These were usually given no specific setting, although sometimes the commissioner and other figures might be given portraits. The four Devonshire Hunting Tapestries (1430-1450, V&A), probably made in Arras, are perhaps

1221-566: A high metabolic rate for warmth. Otter-human interactions have varied over time, with otters being hunted for their pelts , used in fishing practices in southern Bangladesh, and occasionally attacking humans, though such incidents are rare and often a result of provocation. Otters hold a place in various cultures' mythology and religion, symbolizing different attributes and stories, from Norse mythology to Native American totems and Asian folklore, where they are sometimes believed to possess shapeshifting abilities. The word otter derives from

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1332-472: A high quality of design for Brussels pieces. At the beginning of the century Late Gothic styles held sway, and both the most famous sets of millefleur " unicorn " tapestries were made around 1500, perhaps to designs from Paris: The Lady and the Unicorn (now Paris), and The Hunt of the Unicorn (now New York). Pope Leo's set for the Sistine Chapel , designed by Raphael in 1515–16, marked

1443-488: A large field with an ornamental design that could easily be adjusted in size to fit the measurements of the customer's room. Much is unclear about the early history of tapestry, as actual survivals are very rare, and literary mentions in Greek, Roman and other literature almost never give enough detail to establish that a tapestry technique is being described. From ancient Egypt, tapestry weave pieces using linen were found in

1554-923: A large set after his decisive victory at the Battle of Pavia in 1525; a set is now in the Museo di Capodimonte in Naples. When he led an expedition to North Africa, culminating in the Conquest of Tunis in 1535 (no more lasting than that of Tangier depicted in the Pastrana tapestries), he took the Flemish artist Jan Cornelisz Vermeyen with him, mainly to produce drawings for the set of tapestries ordered on his return. Contemporary military subjects became rather less popular as many 16th-century wars became religious, sometimes allegorical subjects were chosen to cover these. But

1665-401: A large workshop of skilled weavers, working to designs made by an artist. Neither the designer nor the workshop can be identified, as is common at this period. Though considered as a set, the four tapestries were created at different times. The specific style of dress in each tapestry can help to identify the time it was made. The Boar and Bear Hunt shows costume c. 1425-30. Both Falconry and

1776-448: A merchant or dealer who sorted out the arrangements and contracts. Some tapestries seem to have been made for stock, before a customer had emerged. The financing of the considerable costs of setting up a workshop is often obscure, especially in the early period, but rulers supported some workshops, or other wealthy people. The merchants or dealers were very likely also involved. Where surviving tapestries from before around 1600 were made

1887-424: A mirror, when it hung behind the weaver. With low-warp looms the cartoon was usually cut into strips and placed beneath the weaving, where the weaver could see it through the "web" of threads. The Raphael Cartoons , which are very rare examples of surviving cartoons, were cut in this way. In European "industrial" tapestries the warp threads were normally wool, but in more artisanal settings, and older ones, linen

1998-427: A natural warp thread, such as wool , linen , or cotton . The weft threads are usually wool or cotton but may include silk , gold , silver , or other alternatives. In late medieval Europe , tapestry was the grandest and most expensive medium for figurative images in two dimensions, and despite the rapid rise in importance of painting it retained this position in the eyes of many Renaissance patrons until at least

2109-526: A number of cities in a relatively small region of northern France and the Southern Netherlands (partly to be near supplies of English wool). By convention all these are often called "Flemish tapestries", although most of the production centres were not in fact in the County of Flanders . Before reaching the weaving workshop, the commissioning process typically involved a patron, an artist, and

2220-420: A performance. Though hunting was primarily reserved for members of the court, they were often not the ones engaging in the act of locating, chasing, and capturing the animals. The nobility often had huntsmen who would routinely hunt and bring back meat for the royals to enjoy, but who also located and corralled live animals for the royals to then hunt. The Devonshire Hunting Tapestries show various animal hunts, but

2331-409: A plain lining added on the back. However, other traditions, such as Chinese kesi and that of pre-Columbian Peru , make tapestry to be seen from both sides. Tapestry should be distinguished from the different technique of embroidery , although large pieces of embroidery with images are sometimes loosely called "tapestry", as with the famous Bayeux Tapestry , which is in fact embroidered. From

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2442-555: A rather successful attempt to spread the taste for large Flemish tapestries to other courts, as well as being part of his attempt to promote the status of his duchy. Apart from Burgundy and France, tapestries were given to several of the English Plantagenets , and the rulers of Austria, Prussia, Aragon, Milan, and at his specific request, to the Ottoman Sultan Bazajet I (as part of a ransom deal for

2553-573: A rocky cairn, more common in Scotland. It is lined with moss and grass. After one month, the pup can leave the holt and after two months, it is able to swim. The pup lives with its family for approximately one year. Otters live up to 16 years; they are by nature playful, and frolic in the water with their pups. Its usual source of food is fish, and further downriver, eels, but it may sample frogs and birds. Otters have long, slim bodies and relatively short limbs. Their most striking anatomical features are

2664-597: A specialist in furniture upholstery, which enabled it to survive after the French Revolution when this became the main remaining market. In the case of tapestries with precious metal thread, they might be burned to recover the metal, as Charles V's soldiers did to some of the Sistine Chapel tapestries , and the French Directory government did in the 1790s to most of the royal collection from

2775-476: A specific order, and distribute them across Europe via a network of dealers. From about 1600 they followed the wider trends in European landscape painting and prints. Oudenarde specialized in these, but they were produced in many towns. As with paintings, the addition of a figure or two could elevate such pieces to a depiction of a story from classical mythology , or a hunting subject. Tapestry weavers in

2886-564: A square yard of medium quality tapestry in a month, but only half that of the finest quality. The success of decorative tapestry can be partially explained by its portability ( Le Corbusier once called tapestries "nomadic murals"). The fully hand-woven tapestry form is more suitable for creating new figurative designs than other types of woven textile, and the looms could be much larger. Kings and noblemen could fold up and transport tapestries from one residence to another. Many kings had "wardrobe" departments with their own buildings devoted to

2997-554: A three piece set ordered by Duke Philip the Bold of Burgundy from Paris in 1399. A set made in the 1450s for Giovanni de' Medici , a leading patron of the latest Florentine style, used cartoons sent from Italy to the Netherlandish weavers. But the subjects suited the tapestry weavers style, as most designs included packed crowds of elaborately-dressed figures, and there were moral messages to be drawn. The 16th century continued

3108-466: Is a type of weaving . Various designs of looms can be used, including upright or "high-warp" looms, where the tapestry is stretched vertically in front of the weaver, or horizontal "low-warp" looms, which were usual in large medieval and Renaissance workshops, but later mostly used for smaller pieces. The weaver always works on the back of the piece, and is normally following a full-size drawn or painted cartoon , or possibly another tapestry; depending on

3219-536: Is another hunt on the right side of the tapestry involving bears and hunters riding on a camel. These hunters have been identified by the V&;A as Saracens and the camel is thought to be a fictional addition. In the Middle Ages, otters were an annoyance to fishermen and thus exterminated through hunting. Nobles did not necessarily partake in otter hunts nor consume otter meat, but did like to adorn themselves with

3330-465: Is due to hunting to supply the demand for skins. For many generations, fishermen in southern Bangladesh have bred smooth-coated otters and used them to chase fish into their nets. Once a widespread practice, passed down from father to son throughout many communities in Asia, this traditional use of domesticated wild animals is still in practice in the district of Narail , Bangladesh. A 2011 review by

3441-528: Is held to be a clean animal belonging to Ahura Mazda in Zoroastrian belief, and taboo to kill. In popular Korean mythology, it is told that people who see an otter ( soodal ) will attract 'rain clouds' for the rest of their lives. In the Buddhist Jataka tales, The Otters and The Wolf, two otters agreed to let a wolf settle their dispute in dividing their caught fish but it was taken away by

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3552-427: Is often unclear; from 1528 Brussels , by then clearly the main centre, required its weavers to mark tapestries of any size with the city's mark and that of the weaver or merchant. At any one time from 1350 to 1600 probably only one or two centres could produce the largest and finest royal orders, and groups of highly skilled weavers migrated to new centres, often driven to move by wars or the plague. At first Paris led

3663-648: Is the Bayeux Tapestry , actually an embroidery, which is 68.38 metres long and 0.5 metres wide (224.3 ft × 1.6 ft) and would have been even longer originally. This was made in England, probably in the 1070s, and the narrative of the Norman Conquest of England in 1066 is very clear, explained by tituli in Latin . This may have been an Anglo-Saxon genre, as the Liber Eliensis records that

3774-639: Is the Latinisation of the Greek τάπης ( tapēs ; gen: τάπητος , tapētos ), "carpet, rug". The earliest attested form of the word is the Mycenaean Greek 𐀲𐀟𐀊 , ta-pe-ja , written in the Linear B syllabary . "Tapestry" was not the common English term until near the end of the classic period for them. If not just called "hangings" or "cloths", they were known as "arras", from

3885-400: Is the tallest tapestry at 14 ft 6 in by 35 ft 3.5 in, and is missing a section on the left. Intended to be read from left to right, the scene shows the sport of falconry and it is the only tapestry of the four that follows on one hunt throughout the piece. On the left, nobles ride horses with hawks perched on arms as they approach a mill. The horses’ trappings have “M” repeated on them, though it

3996-403: Is unknown if this was intended to identify the tapestry’s commissioner. Great attention is given to the etiquette of falconry including the loosing, the flushing out, and the recall. Towards the centre of the tapestry, the nobles take to foot and the falcons are set upon ducks in a stream. This is the loosing, when the falcons are freed from their trappings, such as leashes and hoods, and set upon

4107-687: The Battle of Lepanto was commemorated with a Brussels set, and the defeat of the Spanish Armada with the Armada Tapestries (1591); these were made in Delft , by a team who also made many tapestries of Dutch naval victories. The Armada set were destroyed in the Burning of Parliament in 1834, but are known from prints. Both sets adopted a high and distant aerial view, which continued in many later sets of land battles, often combined with

4218-465: The Bible and Ovid 's Metamorphoses being two popular choices. It is a feature of tapestry weaving, in contrast to painting, that weaving an area of the work containing only relatively plain areas of the composition, such as sky, grass or water, still involves a relatively large amount of slow and skilled work. This, together with the client's expectation of an effect of overpowering magnificence, and

4329-483: The Boar and Bear Hunt , considered low-warp, which has errors of reversed inscriptions and two left-handed men, probably unintended. Falconry and Otter and Swan are considered high-warp. The Boar and Bear Hunt is 13 ft 3.5 in by 33 ft 6 in. On the left side, the boar hunts take place and in the centre and the right side, the bear hunts take place. The men are shown carrying spears, which have cross-bars designed to stop

4440-485: The Middle Ages on European tapestries could be very large, with images containing dozens of figures. They were often made in sets, so that a whole room could be hung with them. In English, "tapestry" has two senses, both of which apply to most of the works discussed here. Firstly it means work using the tapestry weaving technique described above and below, and secondly it means a rather large textile wall hanging with

4551-733: The Old English word otor or oter . This and cognate words in other Indo-European languages ultimately stem from the Proto-Indo-European root *wódr̥ , which also gave rise to the English word "water". An otter's den is called a holt, or couch. Male otters are called dogs or boars; females are called bitches or sows; and their offspring are called pups or cubs. The collective nouns for otters are bevy, family, lodge, romp (being descriptive of their often playful nature), or, when in water, raft. The feces of otters are typically identified by their distinctive aroma,

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4662-543: The Rhineland . It survived in a church in Cologne , Germany. The five strips of Överhogdal tapestries , from Sweden and dated to within 70 years of 1100, have designs in which animals greatly outnumber human figures, and have been given various interpretations. One strip has geometrical motifs. The Skog tapestry , also from Sweden but probably early 14th-century, is comparable in style. The most famous frieze hanging

4773-453: The Sampul tapestry and probably Hellenistic in origin, apparently came from a large wall-hanging, but had been reused to make a pair of trousers. The Hestia Tapestry from Byzantine Egypt around 500–550, is a largely intact wool piece with many figures around the enthroned goddess Hestia , who is named in Greek letters. It is 114 x 136.5 cm (44.9 x 53.7 inches) with a rounded top, and

4884-451: The Swan and Otter Hunt show costume c. 1430s. The Deer Hunt primarily shows costume c. 1440-1450, but with two costumes c. 1435, indicating that the piece was likely made in the 1440s. Furthermore, the tapestries all vary in size. The Devonshire Hunting Tapestries were created on two types of looms : high-warp loom and low-warp loom. Weavers use an illustration, known as a cartoon, as

4995-444: The giant otter and sea otter are the largest. They have very soft, insulated underfur, which is protected by an outer layer of long guard hairs . This traps a layer of air which keeps them dry, warm, and somewhat buoyant under water. Several otter species live in cold waters and have high metabolic rates to help keep them warm. Eurasian otters must eat 15% of their body weight each day, and sea otters 20 to 25%, depending on

5106-536: The subfamily Lutrinae . The 13 extant otter species are all semiaquatic , aquatic , or marine . Lutrinae is a branch of the Mustelidae family , which includes weasels , badgers , mink , and wolverines , among other animals. Otters' habitats include dens known as holts or couches, with their social structure described by terms such as dogs or boars for males, bitches or sows for females, and pups or cubs for offspring. Groups of otters can be referred to as

5217-536: The "Flemish" centres. The main weaving centres were ruled by the French and Burgundian branches of the House of Valois , who were extremely important patrons in the Late Medieval period. This began with the four sons of John II of France (d. 1362), whose inventories reveal they owned hundreds of tapestries between them. Almost the only clear survival from these collections, and the most famous tapestry from

5328-416: The 14th century, is the huge Apocalypse Tapestry , a very large set made for Louis I, Duke of Anjou in Paris between 1377 and 1382. Another of the brothers, Philip the Bold , Duke of Burgundy (d. 1404) was probably an even more extravagant spender, and presented many tapestries to other rulers around Europe. Several of the tapestry-weaving centres were in his territories, and his gifts can be seen as

5439-496: The 1530s for the Habsburgs, one of the most successful efforts to achieve an up-to-date Renaissance style. Technically, Brussels tapestries in the last quarter of the 15th century had already become sophisticated enough to begin to incorporate more illusionistic elements, distinguishing between different textures in their subject-matter, and including portraits of individuals (now mostly unknown) rather than generic figures. Over

5550-528: The 1700s, although it may have begun well before then. Early hunting methods included darts, arrows, nets and snares but later, traps were set on land and guns used. There has been a long history of otter pelts being worn around the world. In China it was standard for the royalty to wear robes made from them. People that were financially high in status also wore them. The tails of otters were often made into items for men to wear. These included hats and belts. Even some types of mittens for children have been made from

5661-565: The 17th century, tapestries in palaces were moved less, and came to be regarded as more or less permanent fittings for a particular room. It was at this point that many old tapestries were cut to allow fitting around doors and windows. They also often suffered the indignity of having paintings hung on top of them. Some new tapestries were made to fit around a specific room; the design of the Gobelins set from Croome Court , now in New York, has

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5772-817: The IUCN/SSC Otter Specialist Group showed that otter attacks reported between 1875 and 2010 occurred most often in Florida , where human and otter populations have substantially increased since 2000, with the majority involving the North American otter. At least 42 instances of attack were found, including one resulting in death and another case of serious injury. Attacking otters had rabies in 36% of anecdotal reports. 80% of otter bite victims do not seek medical treatment. Animal welfare groups say that, unless threatened, otters rarely attack humans. In November 2021, about 20 otters ambushed

5883-535: The Low Countries. This was also the case in other parts of Europe, especially Italy and Germany. From the mid-16th century many rulers encouraged or directly established workshops capable of high-quality work in their domains. This was most successful in France, but Tuscany, Spain, England and eventually Russia had high-quality workshops, normally beginning with the importation of a group of skilled workers from

5994-698: The Netherlands had become very comfortable working with the Gothic style by the late 15th century, and were slow to reflect the stylistic changes of the Italian Renaissance ; perhaps pressure from the customers for tapestries led the way. Prints enabled Italian designs to be seen in the north. A distinctive Italian subject was the Petrarchan triumph , derived from his poem-cycle I trionfi (before 1374). The first recorded tapestries were

6105-540: The Renaissance. In the Middle Ages and the Renaissance , a rich tapestry panel woven with symbolic emblems , mottoes , or coats of arms called a baldachin , canopy of state or cloth of state was hung behind and over a throne as a symbol of authority. The seat under such a canopy of state would normally be raised on a dais . As paintings came to be regarded as more important works of art, typically by

6216-486: The Valois and Habsburgs in recent decades was probably already the main centre for the highest quality weaving by 1500. But there were many other towns where tapestries were woven. Tapestries were commissioned in the Netherlands by rulers across Europe, from King Henry VIII in England, to Pope Leo X and Sigismund II Augustus of Poland and Lithuania. Ownership of smaller tapestries was also spreading more widely through

6327-520: The Victoria & Albert Museum restore the tapestries. The restoration began in 1900 and ended in 1910. The tapestries were then brought to the main home of the Dukes of Devonshire, Chatsworth House , and exhibited periodically. In 1957, the tenth Duke of Devonshire died and the tapestries passed to the V&A. Tapestries Tapestry is a form of textile art , traditionally woven by hand on

6438-582: The care, repair, and movement of tapestries, which were folded into large canvas bags and carried on carts. In churches, they were displayed on special occasions. Tapestries were also draped on the walls of palaces and castles for insulation during winter, as well as for decorative display. For special ceremonial processions such as coronations, royal entries and weddings, they would sometimes be displayed outside. The largest and best tapestries, designed for more public spaces in palaces, were only displayed on special occasions, reducing wear and fading. Presumably

6549-429: The century oil paintings mostly moved from a panel support to canvas, allowing a far greater size, and began to compete seriously with tapestries. The authenticity of the master's touch that paintings allowed, but tapestry did not, became appreciated by the most sophisticated patrons, including the Habsburgs. However, Charles V and Philip II of Spain continued to spend huge sums on tapestries, apparently believing them

6660-457: The charge of the boar and keep its tusks at a safe distance. The bears are also hunted on foot with spears. The lady crossing the stream in the centre foreground has "Monte le Desire" inscribed on her flowing sleeve. However, weaving on a low-warp loom has reversed the letters. The boar was viewed as the exact opposite of the deer in the Middle Ages, with the boar considered more beastly. Boars were known to attack hunting dogs. Though boar hunting

6771-421: The cost enormously, to perhaps fifty times that of wool alone. The weavers were usually male, as the work was physically demanding; spinning the threads was usually a female preserve. Apart from the design and materials, the quality of tapestries varies with the tightness of the weaving. One modern measure of this is the number of warp threads per centimetre. It is estimated that a single weaver could produce

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6882-650: The cunning wolf. In Japanese, otters are called "kawauso" ( 獺、川獺 ). In Japanese folklore, they fool humans in the same way as foxes ( kitsune ) and tanuki . In the Noto region , Ishikawa Prefecture , there are stories where they shapeshift into beautiful women or children wearing checker-patterned clothing. If a human attempts to speak to one, they will answer "oraya" and then answer "araya," and if anybody asks them anything, they say cryptic things like "kawai." There are darker stories, such as one from Kaga Province (now Ishikawa Prefecture ) in which an otter that lives in

6993-410: The design reference for the tapestry. For low-warp loom, the cartoon was below the threads, allowing the weaver to easily look at it. For high-warp loom, the cartoon was displayed away from the loom, requiring weavers to be familiar with the work to not constantly be looking away from the tapestry to the cartoon. Low-warp loom can create errors since the weaver has to work in reverse. Such is the case with

7104-512: The duke's son). None of the tapestries Philip commissioned appear to survive. Philip's taste for tapestries was to continue very strongly in his descendants, including the Spanish Habsburgs. The new style of grand tapestries that were large and often in sets mostly showed subjects with large numbers of figures representing narrative subjects. The iconography of a high proportion of narrative tapestries goes back to written sources,

7215-551: The early 17th century, but from around 1650 the French factories were increasingly overtaking it, and remained dominant until both fashion and the upheavals of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars brought the virtual end of the traditional demand for large tapestries. There was always some tapestry weaving, mostly in rather smaller workshops making smaller pieces, in other towns in northern France and

7326-444: The elements sized at a consistent perspective scale. Tapestries whose main content was landscape and animals are known as verdure subjects (from the French for "greenery"). This genre has suffered more than most from colour changes as the greens of tapestries are especially prone to fade, or turn to blues. Smaller tapestries of this type remained popular until the 18th century, and had the advantage that workshops could make them without

7437-401: The end of the 16th century, if not beyond. The European tradition continued to develop and reflect wider changes in artistic styles until the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars , before being revived on a smaller scale in the 19th century. Technically, tapestry is weft -faced weaving, in which all the warp threads are hidden in the completed work, unlike most woven textiles, where both

7548-468: The field, but the English occupation there after 1418 sent many to Arras , already a centre. Arras in turn was sacked in 1477, leading to the rise of Tournai , until a serious plague early in the next century. Brussels had been growing in importance, and now became the most important centre, which it remained until the Eighty Years War disrupted all the Netherlands. Brussels had a revival in

7659-405: The foreground and middle ground, and sea, in the background. On the left, two otters are hunted: one is pinned to the ground towards the bottom and one is hoisted into the air towards the top. Towards the centre of the composition, next to a small-scale castle that represents a port, young boys plunder a swan’s nest. Directly above, another pair of boys climb a tree to attack a heron ’s nest. There

7770-517: The form of an otter. The myth of "Otter's Ransom" is the starting point of the Volsunga saga . In Irish mythology , the character Lí Ban was turned from a woman into a mermaid, half human and half salmon, and given three hundred years of life to roam the oceans. Her lapdog assumed the form of an otter and shared her prolonged lifetime and her extensive wanderings. In some Native American cultures, otters are considered totem animals . The otter

7881-622: The fur of otters. Otters have also been hunted using dogs, especially the otterhound . From 1958 to 1963, the 11 otter hunts in England and Wales killed 1,065 otters between them. In such hunts, the hunters notched their poles after every kill. The prized trophy that hunters would take from the otters was the baculum , which would be worn as a tie-pin . Traffic (the wildlife trade monitoring network) reported that otters are at serious risk in Southeast Asia and have disappeared from parts of their former range. This decline in populations

7992-416: The furs. Swan meat was consumed by the nobility, especially the meat of young swans, or cygnets. Swans were so highly coveted by royalty that they had special farms to hold swans called swanneries . The Deer Hunt is the smallest of the four tapestries at 13 ft 4.5 in by 28 ft 5.5 in. Woolley points out that the finished tapestry is the result of several reworkings and additions. The reweaving has diminished

8103-408: The introduction of the full Italian High Renaissance style to tapestry, and the top northern designers now attempted to adopt it, which was rather a struggle for them, although the wide distribution of prints across Europe gave them one easy route, which many took. Les Chasses de Maximilien (The Hunts of Maximilian) was a series of twelve huge Brussels tapestries designed by Bernard van Orley in

8214-489: The inventory, the tapestries had been cut into smaller pieces. The Victoria & Albert Museum suggests that the four tapestries remained at Hardwick Hall over the following centuries. William George Spencer Cavendish, 6th Duke of Devonshire used the cut tapestries to insulate the Long Gallery at Hardwick Hall in the 1840s. During a visit to Hardwick in 1899, Arthur Long convinced the seventh Duke of Devonshire to let

8325-526: The largest set of 15th-century survivals, showing the hunting of bears, boars, deer, swans, otters, and falconry. Very fashionably dressed ladies and gentlemen stroll around beside the slaughter. Another set , from after 1515, show a similar late-medieval style, although partly made with silk, so extra-expensive. But the twelve pieces in Les Chasses de Maximilien (1530s, Louvre), made in Brussels for

8436-590: The last of a long-lasting dynasty ). The Brussels workshops declined somewhat in the second half of the century, both as large Flemish Baroque paintings took some of their market, and French competition squeezed the remaining niche for tapestries. Otter Aonyx Enhydra Hydrictis Lontra Lutra Lutrogale Pteronura † Enhydriodon † Algarolutra † Cyrnaonyx † Megalenhydris † Sardolutra † Siamogale † Teruelictis † Satherium † Enhydritherium Otters are carnivorous mammals in

8547-564: The line of her second husband , who eventually became the Cavendish Dukes of Devonshire . Linda Woolley suggests that Bess came to own the tapestries via her last husband George Talbot, 6th Earl of Shrewsbury , who had been married to the countess before he died in 1590. A 1601 inventory identified a set of four tapestries with descriptions matching those of the Devonshire Hunting Tapestries. According to

8658-659: The most magnificent form of decoration, and one that maintained continuity with their Burgundian ancestors. The early part of the 17th century saw the taste for tapestry among the elite continuing, although painting was steadily gaining ground. Brussels remained much the most important weaving centre, and Rubens , mostly based in Antwerp not far away, brought the grand Baroque style to the medium, with Jacob Jordaens and others also designing many. In later generations important designers included Justus van Egmont (d. 1674), Ludwig van Schoor (d. 1702) and Jan van Orley (d. 1735,

8769-441: The nobility and bourgeoisie . From 1528 tapestries of larger sizes made in Brussels had to be so marked, and with the maker's or dealer's mark, making the task of the historian much easier. After an agreement between the relevant guilds in 1476, the cartoons for the main designs had to be supplied by a member of the painters' guild, while the weavers could elaborate these with detail, especially in millefeur designs. This ensured

8880-433: The nobles who take place in them are in their finest dress, which they might not in reality have worn for such an activity. The four hunting tapestries are therefore not the most accurate representation of hunting, but instead depict the fantasy of a noble, leisurely pastime enjoyed by the wealthy. The tapestries reinforce the hierarchy of class and humankind’s dominance over animals. The tapestries would have been produced by

8991-629: The occasion. The Portuguese Pastrana Tapestries (1470s) were an early example, and a rare survival from so early. Many sets were produced of the lives of classical heroes that included many battle scenes. Not only the Trojan War , Alexander the Great , Julius Caesar and Constantine I were commemorated, but also less likely figures such as Cyrus the Great of ancient Persia . There were many 15th-century sets of contemporary wars, especially celebrating Habsburg victories. Charles V commissioned

9102-426: The patron when he sat in state or dined, and were made for many nobles who could not afford the huge narrative sets bought by royalty. Enghien was a smaller weaving centre that seems to have specialized in these. Earlier types of heraldic tapestries had often repeated elements of the heraldry in patterns. After about 1520 the top workshops moved away from millefleur settings towards naturalistic landscape, with all

9213-632: The period when Arras was the leading production centre. Arazzo is still the term for tapestry in Italian, while a number of European languages use variants based on Gobelins , after the French factory; for example both Danish and Hungarian use gobelin (and in Danish tapet means wallpaper ). Thomas Campbell argues that in documents relating to the Tudor royal collection from 1510 onwards "arras" specifically meant tapestries using gold thread. Tapestry

9324-400: The powerful webbed feet used to swim, and their seal-like abilities for holding breath underwater. Most have sharp claws on their feet and all except the sea otter have long, muscular tails. The 13 species range in adult size from 0.6 to 1.8 m (2.0 to 5.9 ft) in length and 1 to 45 kg (2.2 to 99.2 lb) in weight. The Asian small-clawed otter is the smallest otter species and

9435-445: The prey. The dogs in the tapestry partake in the flushing out of the prey. On the right, the hawks are being recalled. A man towards the top of the composition holds a v-shaped lure in the air to call back the hawk. In the bottom right, another man bends to grab his lure, with a successfully caught duck in his other hand. The Swan and Otter Hunt is the widest tapestry at 13 ft 11 in by 36 ft 7.5 in. The landscape includes both land, in

9546-424: The quality of the tapestry. On the left side of the tapestry, a deer is actively being hunted by men and hounds. To the right of that deer in the centre, a recently slain deer lies on its back, with its stomach cut open. The hounds are feasting on the deer as their reward, a hunting ritual called the curée, or cure. A small mill next to a stream divides the tapestry, and on the right there are several figures engaged in

9657-472: The remoteness of the main centres from Italian influence, led to northern compositions remaining crammed with figures and other details long after classicizing trends in Italian Renaissance painting had reduced the crowding in paintings. An important challenge to the northern style was the arrival in Brussels, probably in 1516, of the Raphael Cartoons for the pope's Sistine Chapel commission of

9768-476: The same period was made for Halberstadt Cathedral in Germany around 1200, and shaped differently to fit specific spaces. These may well have been made by nuns, or the secular canonesses of nearby Quedlinburg Abbey . In this period repeated decorative motifs, increasingly often heraldic, and comparable to the styles of imported luxury fabrics such as Byzantine silk , seem to have been the common designs. Of

9879-426: The set up, this reverses (is a mirror image of) the tapestry image. The cartoon was generally created from a smaller modello , which in "industrial" workshops from at least the late Middle Ages on was produced by a professional artist, who often had little or no further involvement in the process. The cartoon was traced onto the warp lines by the weaver, and then placed where it could still be seen, sometimes through

9990-437: The smaller personal rooms were hung permanently. Many smaller pieces were made as covers for furniture or cushions, or curtains and bed hangings. Others, especially in the case of those made for patrons outside the top of the elite, were cut up and reused for such functions when they, or tapestries in general, came to seem old-fashioned. Bags, and sometimes clothing were other re-uses. The Beauvais Manufactory became rather

10101-400: The smell of which has been described as ranging from freshly mown hay to putrefied fish; these are known as spraints . The gestation period in otters is about 60 to 86 days. The newborn pup is cared for by the bitch, dog, and older offspring. Female otters reach sexual maturity at approximately two years of age and males at approximately three years. The holt is built under tree roots or

10212-415: The species. Otters are distinguished by their long, slim bodies, powerful webbed feet for swimming, and their dense fur, which keeps them warm and buoyant in water. They are playful animals, engaging in activities like sliding into water on natural slides and playing with stones. There are 13 known species of otters, ranging in size and habitat preferences, with some species adapted to cold waters requiring

10323-435: The sport of hawking. Also in the centre of the work, next to the cure, is a man of the court flirtatiously wrapped around the wife of the miller. In addition to hunting and hawking, members of the court are socializing in their finest dress, adding to the idealized nature of the scene. The deer pictured are specifically red deer , which was one of three deer species in medieval England alongside fallow deer and roe deer . At

10434-672: The tapestries mentioned above, the Cloth of St Gereon best represents this style. A decisive shift in European tapestry history came around 1350, and in many respects set the pattern for the industry until the end of its main period of importance, in the upheavals following the French Revolution. The tapestries made for the very small number of customers able to commission the best pieces were now extremely large, and extremely expensive, very often made in sets, and often showed complicated narrative or allegorical scenes with large numbers of figures. They were made in large workshops concentrated in

10545-455: The taste for tapestry, and was arguably the finest period in the history of the medium. By now the tapestry-producing towns were mostly ruled by the Habsburg family , who replaced the Valois as the dominant patrons. At the start of the century Tournai was perhaps still the largest weaving centre, but after a plague it was replaced by Brussels, which as the Netherlandish administrative capital of

10656-727: The temperature. In water as warm as 10 °C (50 °F), an otter needs to catch 100 g (3.5 oz) of fish per hour to survive. Most species hunt for three to five hours each day and nursing mothers up to eight hours each day. For most otters, fish is the staple of their diet. This is often supplemented by frogs, crayfish and crabs . Some otters are experts at opening shellfish , and others will feed on available small mammals or birds. Prey-dependence leaves otters very vulnerable to prey depletion. Sea otters are hunters of clams , sea urchins and other shelled creatures. They are notable for their ability to use stones to break open shellfish on their bellies. This skill must be learned by

10767-492: The time the tapestry was created, deer-hunting was restricted to a very few in England. The history of ownership of the tapestries from their creation to the mid-sixteenth century is not known. The Countess of Shrewsbury, Bess of Hardwick , is one of the earliest suggested owners of the set. In the 1590s, Hardwick Hall in Derbyshire was built and became the home for the extremely wealthy widow, whose inheritance passed to

10878-533: The tombs of both Thutmose IV (d. 1391 or 1388 BC) and Tutankhamen (c. 1323 BC), the latter a glove and a robe. Pieces in wool, given a wide range of dates around two millennia ago, have been found in a cemetery at Sanpul (Shampula) and other sites near Khotan in the Tarim Basin . They appear to have been made in a variety of places, including the Hellenistic world . The largest fragments, known as

10989-477: The victories of the person commissioning them. Philip the Bold commissioned a Battle of Roosbeke set two years after his victory in 1382 , which was five metres high and totalled over 41 metres in width. John of Gaunt , Duke of Lancaster insisted it was changed when Philip displayed it at a diplomatic meeting in Calais in 1393 to negotiate a peace treaty; Gaunt regarded the subject-matter as inappropriate for

11100-423: The warp and the weft threads may be visible. In tapestry weaving, weft yarns are typically discontinuous (unlike brocade ); the artisan interlaces each coloured weft back and forth in its own small pattern area. It is a plain weft-faced weave having weft threads of different colours worked over portions of the warp to form the design. European tapestries are normally made to be seen only from one side, and often have

11211-1008: The water. They may also find and play with small stones. Different species vary in their social structure, some being largely solitary, while others live in groups – in a few species these groups may be fairly large. Giant otter ( Pteronura brasiliensis ) North American river otter ( Lontra canadensis ) Marine otter ( Lontra felina ) Southern river otter ( Lontra provocax ) Neotropical otter ( Lontra longicaudis ) Sea otter ( Enhydra lutris ) Spotted-necked otter ( Hydrictis maculicollis ) Eurasian otter ( Lutra lutra ) Hairy-nosed otter ( Lutra sumatrana ) Japanese otter † ( Lutra nippon ) Lutra euxena † Lutra castiglionis † Lutra simplicidens † Lutra trinacriae † African clawless otter ( Aonyx capensis ) Asian small-clawed otter ( Aonyx cinerea ) Congo clawless otter ( Aonyx congicus ) Smooth-coated otter ( Lutrogale perspicillata ) Subfamily Lutrinae Otters have been hunted for their pelts from at least

11322-588: The widow of the Anglo-Saxon commander Byrhtnoth gave Ely Abbey a tapestry or hanging celebrating his deeds, presumably in the style of the Bayeux Tapestry, the only surviving example of such a work. This was given immediately after his death in 991 at the Battle of Maldon , so had probably been hanging in his home previously. A group with narrative religious scenes in a clearly Romanesque style that relates to Rhineland illuminated manuscripts of

11433-483: The workshop of Maarten Reymbouts the Younger in Brussels, to be first seen on the occasion of his Royal entry to Antwerp in late 1599. A set produced for John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough showing his victories was varied for different clients, and even sold to one of his opponents, Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria , after reworking the generals' faces and other details. Millefleur (or millefleurs)

11544-529: The young. Otters are active hunters, chasing prey in the water or searching the beds of rivers, lakes or the seas. Most species live beside water, but river otters usually enter it only to hunt or travel, otherwise spending much of their time on land to prevent their fur becoming waterlogged. Sea otters are considerably more aquatic and live in the ocean for most of their lives. Otters are playful animals and appear to engage in various behaviors for sheer enjoyment, such as making waterslides and sliding on them into

11655-427: Was a background style of many different small flowers and plants, usually shown on a green ground, as though growing in grass. Often various animals are added, usually all at about the same size, so that a rabbit or dove and a unicorn are not much different in size. Trees are usually far too small and out of scale with the flowers around them, a feature also generally found in medieval painting. The millefleur style

11766-624: Was both a stylized sport and an important source of meat highly prized by the nobility. The sport also reinforced aristocratic ideas of class, since the elite form of hunting was only available for the landowner. Hunting was so prized by the nobility that there were forest laws , to protect the landowners's rights against poaching . Any rule-breaking poachers faced expensive fines or worse. In particular, deer and boar were protected by forest law in England, and in Portugal, bears were protected. Royal hunts were not an everyday occurrence and were more of

11877-607: Was in a will of 1434, mentioning a "Lectum meum de tapstriwerke cum leonibus cum pelicano". They give a wide definition, covering: "A textile fabric decorated with designs of ornament or pictorial subjects, painted, embroidered, or woven in colours, used for wall hangings, curtains , covers for seats, ..." before mentioning "especially" those woven in a tapestry weave. The word tapestry derives from Old French tapisserie , from tapisser , meaning "to cover with heavy fabric, to carpet", in turn from tapis , "heavy fabric", via Latin tapes ( gen : tapetis ), which

11988-550: Was not as highly regarded as deer hunting, the meat was still desired for banquets and celebrations. Bear hunting was not for meat, but rather to prevent attacks on farm animals, and for fur. Hunters and their hounds might seek out the bear in its cave, as can be seen on the right side of the tapestry where a bear and its cubs reside in a cave. However by this period, bears were rare in Flanders, and extinct in Britain. Falconry

12099-460: Was often used. The weft threads were wool, with silk, silver or gold thread used in the most expensive tapestries. Some famous designs, such as the Sistine Chapel tapestries and the Story of Abraham set probably first made for King Henry VIII , survive in versions with precious metals and other versions without. Using silk might increase the cost by four times, and adding gold thread increased

12210-451: Was presumably hung in a home, showing the persistence of Greco-Roman paganism at this late date. The Cleveland Museum of Art has a comparable enthroned Virgin Mary of similar date. Many of the small borders and patches with images with which the early Byzantine world liked to decorate their clothing were in tapestry. A number of survivals from around the year 1000 show the development of

12321-529: Was used for a range of different subjects from about 1400 to 1550, but mainly between about 1480 and 1520. In many subjects the millefleur background stretches to the top of the tapestry, eliminating any sky; the minimization of sky was already a feature of tapestry style; the Devonshire Hunting Tapestries show an early stage of the style. Prominent millefleur backgrounds, as opposed to those mostly covered with figures, are especially

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