Shepherds in a Round Dance
Unknown Artist
around 1500
Medium
Wool and silk: tapestry weave
Dimensions
360.5 × 401.1 cm
Classification
Tapestry
Department
Textiles
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Gift of Leonard C. Hanna Jr., for the Coralie Walker Hanna Memorial Collection
Accession Number
1939.158
About this artwork
Late medieval tapestries often use a limited yet contrasting color palette to portray stylized images. The expressions of these figures, for example, are conveyed more by their postures than by their faces. Four shepherds and shepherdesses join hands and dance to the music of a bagpiper at the far right, while a lord and two ladies on the left look on. A dog and sheep amid blossoming plants and trees contribute to the festive pastoral scene in front of a castle.