Marco Polo, in his famous autobiography "The Travels of Marco Polo," documented his 13th-century visit to the island of Sumatra in Indonesia. This book meticulously described his journey to the East, opening a window for Europeans at the time to understand Asia.
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03-10, 2025He wrote: "This country produces wild elephants, and many unicorns, which are scarcely smaller than elephants. They have hair like that of a buffalo, feet like those of an elephant, and a single large black horn in the middle of the forehead." Clearly, the creature Marco Polo described was not a unicorn, but a rhinoceros. Europeans at the time had limited knowledge of Asian species, leading to this misunderstanding.
However, it is important to remember that for medieval Europeans, unicorns were not myths but a zoological fact. Medieval artworks are filled with images of unicorns, a famous example being the series of tapestries hanging in the Musée de Cluny in Paris, entitled "The Lady and the Unicorn." These artworks have an unexpected connection to a precious manuscript in Melbourne.
Since the Musée de Cluny acquired these tapestries in 1882, they have been the subject of debate. Woven from wool and silk around 1500, these tapestries are rare survivors of a fragile and extremely expensive art form. Even without the mystery surrounding them, they are still considered masterpieces. Each of the six tapestries depicts a lady in exquisite clothing and jewelry, accompanied by a shimmering white unicorn.
Art historians generally agree that five of the works in the series represent the five senses: smell, taste, touch, sight, and hearing. In the scene considered "touch," the lady takes small pieces of candy from a bowl handed to her by a servant; in "hearing," she plays the organ. In "sight," the lady sits with the unicorn gently resting on her lap, holding a mirror so the unicorn can admire its own reflection. However, the sixth tapestry adds some complexity to these neat allegorical works.
The largest in the series, and the final scene, shows the same lady beneath the canopy of an elaborate tent, inscribed with a mysterious motto: "À Mon Seul Désir" ("To My Only Desire"). Under this motto, the lady is depicted removing her jewelry and placing it in a chest, while a lion and a unicorn holding banners watch. There are many interpretations of this tapestry: perhaps a dedication to the intended recipient of the tapestries, a declaration of love, or a commemoration of marriage, or perhaps this scene represents a "sixth sense"—a feeling higher than the other senses—in which all wealth and pleasure are abandoned in favor of one's truest inner desire.
But there are other clues to how to interpret the tapestries hidden in ornately decorated medieval manuscripts, many of which—you might be surprised to learn—are hidden in Australia's own public collections. One such illuminated book is the Wauchope Book of Hours: the first manuscript purchased by the National Gallery of Victoria, acquired at auction in 1920. This 15th-century French "Book of Hours"—or prayer book—is filled with hymns, prayers, stories from the Gospels, and a calendar of important Christian festivals.
On one page of this ornately decorated book, there is a scene that will be familiar to any fan of the famous Cluny tapestries. Just as in the Cluny tapestries, we see a finely dressed lady with a unicorn sitting on her lap, mesmerized by its own reflection in a mirror. However, this scene is not strictly an allegory of sight: it has a deeper meaning. What we are seeing here is what is known as the "Taming of the Unicorn"—a popular narrative in medieval art.
According to medieval belief, the unicorn was a powerful and fierce creature whose horn had detoxifying properties and could be used to counteract poison. However, in attempting to capture a unicorn, only a pure virgin could entice the beast to submit. By the 15th century, the story had evolved into the "Hunt of the Unicorn," in which stories of hunts with hounds and spears used chaste virgins to capture and slaughter the magical beast.
Beyond being a chivalrous tale for 15th-century European courts, the story of the taming of the unicorn also reflected late medieval notions of gender and sexuality. The supposed purity of the virgin who captures the unicorn was not only linked to the holy conception of the Virgin Mary, but also warned men about the wiles of women and their power to "trap" men. Other scenes in the margins of the Wauchope Book of Hours reveal how deeply ingrained this idea was.
In the upper right corner of the same page, we see another woman who echoes the virgin below. But this woman is Delilah, and lying on her lap is not a unicorn, but Samson. In the Old Testament story of Samson and Delilah, the sex worker entraps Samson by cutting his hair, thereby breaking his Nazirite vow to God. The illustrator of the Wauchope Book of Hours deliberately placed these two stories—the capture of the unicorn and Samson and Delilah—on the same page to provoke reflection on the virtue of chaste women and the dangers of female entrapment.
For a set of tapestries that is often considered to be about love, devotion, and marriage, this love comes with a warning: the women who are worthy of devotion and praise are those who remain chaste and pure. "The Lady and the Unicorn" not only reminds us that some of the more disturbing notions about female sexuality have been passed down, but also prompts us to remember that all art—whether new or old—carries multiple meanings.
