貴婦人と一角獣 THE LADY AND THE UNICORN (AS SEEN IN GUNDAM UNICORN)

If you are a fan of Gundam Unicorn, you should recognise this tapestry or a set of 6 tapestries, 5 of which are depicting the five senses : Taste, hearing, sight, touch and smell. The modern name for these tapestries is called The lady and the Unicorn (In French: La Dame à la licorne). It is currently located in Musée national du Moyen Âge or what used to be called Musée de Cluny.


The tapestries were woven in Flunders using wool and silk with drawing from the 1500. All the tapestries have a lady with a lion on her left and the unicorn on the right. The pennants in th tapestries show the arms of the sponsor of the tapestries Jean Le Viste who was a nobleman in the court of King Charles VII ; some also suggest that the real sponsor of the tapestries is Antoine II Le Viste , a descendent of the Le Viste family and a powerful figure in the court of Chales VIII, Louis XII and François I. I am not a historian , so someone can verify this.


The tapestries were discovered in 1841 by Prosper Mérimée in Boussac castle.

As mentioned earlier, it is suggested that the tapestries depict the five senses :


味覚 TASTE（Le goût） :

In one of the tapestries , the lady is taking candies from a dish held by a maid. The monkey is also eating candies.



 
視覚  SIGHT（La vue）:

In one of the tapestries , the lady is holding a mirror in her right hand while the Unicorn  kneels on the ground with his fore legs in the lady's lap, looking at its reflection in the mirror.




嗅覚  SMELL（L'odorat）:

In one of the tapestries ,the lady is making a flower wreath and the monkey is sniffing / smelling a flower.





触覚 TOUCH （Le toucher）:


In one of the tapestries , the lady is touching the unicorn's horn while the other hand is holding the pennant.





聴覚 HEARING （L'ouïe）:

In one of the tapestries , the lady plays an organetto on the table.




DESIRE  À mon seul désir :

One of the tapestries that we see in Gundam Unicorn is called À Mon Seul Désir. It is wider than the others with drawings of different style. The lady is standing before  a tent with the words À Mon Seul Désir  written across its top. À Mon Seul Désir  has many interpretations , some of which are:

- according to my desire alone
- by my will only
- love only desires beauty of soul
........

The lady in this tapestry is placing her necklace that she is wearing in other tapestries , in the chest. A maid is standing in the right side of this chest. There is a bench with bags of coins on the bench. This is the only tapestry in which the lady is smiling.

There are many interpretations for the drawing on this tapestry:

- placing the necklace in the chest suggests THAT the lady is abandoning her passions aroused by the other five senses.
- as suggestion of her free will.
- representing the sixth sense.
- representing love / viginity.

...........






The above are all suggestive and open to interpretations, like any other arts.


They were on loan from France to Japan in 2013 and were displayed in 東京国立新美術館 , 2013年4月24日 - 7月15日 (The National Art Center, Tokyo,  between 24 th April and 15 th July, 2013) and 大阪国立国際美術館 , 2013年7月27日 - 10月20日 (National Museum of Art , Oosaka , between 27 th July, and 20th October, 2013 ) .