Two Couples in Love

Couples 
In Love
Upper Rhine, 
third quarter of the 15th century
Wool and linen
H. 0.60 m ; W. 1.35 m
Acq. 1853; Cl. 2323

The theme of courtly love is beautifully evoked in this small Rhineland tapestry. Other examples may be found in museums in Berlin, Zurich and Basel.

The two couples, identical in appearance as well as in pattern, differ only in colour scheme. On the scrolls (written in germanic language), the admirer shows his heartache which his lover assuages by cutting the flowering elder-branch. These little bright-coloured tapestries were used as cushions.