The Boar and Bear Hunt tapestry

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Female Narrator:

The artist who designed this enormous tapestry is unknown. It was probably woven in the Southern Netherlands between 1425 and 1430. The tapestry is almost 4 metres high and over 10 metres wide, and shows the aristocratic pursuit of boar and bear hunting. The participants are lords and ladies, dressed in the elaborate silks and fur-lined garments fashionable at the time. The women wear high-waisted gowns with separate jewelled collars. Several men are dressed in loose, fur-lined garments with low-slung belts and full sleeves. The use of unnecessary amounts of expensive fabric by men and women was an ostentatious display of wealth.

The tapestry reads from right to left and shows the progress of a bear hunt, then a boar hunt. To the far right two nobles arrive on horseback accompanied by a servant wearing a crimson tunic. He holds two hunting dogs, one brown and one white, on a leash. To his left, two ladies greet each other. The figures are densely grouped together against a backdrop of woodland. In the upper half, hunters have flushed out a female bear and her two cubs. As the cubs escape, the female is speared in the chest by a noble on a dappled horse. The bear stands upright, her claws raking at the shaft of the spear. Further on, the bear grapples with three hunting dogs while a hunter is about to deal a death-blow with his sword.

In contrast, the scene below the bear hunt shows pairs of noblemen and ladies engaged in their own pursuit, that of love and pleasure. A woman in a red flowered gown tilts her head towards a man handling two dogs. Beside her a man and a woman cross a stream by a small wooden bridge. The flowing sleeves of the woman's blue gown are decorated with gold letters woven in reverse which spell out 'Monte le desire' - 'Desire increases'.

In the left half of the tapestry a boar hunt dominates the action. In this section dogs and servants flush out a vicious tusked boar while nobles and ladies in the top left corner watch. Further to the left, the hapless boar is hemmed in by three dogs who drive it towards three nobles holding long spears. On the far left, the dead boar is about to be hoisted up by two men who grip it by the front and hind legs. It is likely this animal would have ended up on a noble's dinner table. Boars were hunted for both sport and meat, but bears were used only for sport.

As well as being a decorative item and a prized possession, tapestries like the Boar and Bear Hunt would have been used to provide insulation against draughts. Its scenes of springtime, hunting and courtship would have reminded its owner of pleasurable outdoor activities during the cold winter.

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