The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 18, 2025

Millefleurs Tapestry with Medici Coat of Arms

1520s

Netherlands, Hainault, early 16th century

tapestry weave: wool and silk
Overall: 274.2 x 652.8 cm (107 15/16 x 257 in.)
Bequest of John L. Severance 1942.824
Location: 003 Special Exhibition Hall

Description

Many identifiable flowering plants provide the French name, millefleur, for this pattern, which became fashionable around 1450. Each plant may have symbolized either religion, courtship, or morals. However, many millefleur tapestries, made for about 100 years, were probably not symbolic. Large quantities were woven only with flowers; some also incorporated birds and animals or, in this case, coats of arms. Here, the original coat of arms has been replaced by that of the Medicis, a prominent family in Renaissance Florence.
  • ?–1942
    John L. Severance [1863–1936], Cleveland, OH, bequest to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    1942–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Catalogue of the John L. Severance Collection: Bequest of John L. Severance, 1936. [Cleveland, Ohio]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1942. Mentioned: p. 59, cat. no. 120 archive.org
    Milliken, William M. "Bequest of John L. Severance, 1936." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 29, no. 9 (1942): 131. p. 149 25141015
    Standen, Edith A. "The Carpet of Arms." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 20, no. 7 (1962): 221-31. p. 227 undefined
    Asselberghs, Jeen Paul. Les tapisseries flamandes aux États-Unis d'Amérique. Bruxelles: Musées royaux d'Art et d'Histoire, 1974. p. 21
    Hattori, Teruko 服部照子. Yōroppa no seikatsu bijutsu to fukushoku bunka. I, I [ヨーロッパの生活美術と服飾文化. I, ゴシックタピスリーと服飾]. Tokyo: Genryūsha, 1986. p. 71, no. 65
    Peri, Paolo and Nello Forti Grazzini. The "Millefiori" Tapestry of Pistoia. Pistoia: Gli ori, 2016. Reproduced: p. 82; Mentioned: p.83
  • Renaissance to Runway: The Enduring Italian Houses. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 9, 2025-February 1, 2026).
    Florence and the Arts: Five Centuries of Patronage. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 13-September 19, 1971).
    Exhibition of the John L. Severance Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (November 12, 1942-March 14, 1943).
  • {{cite web|title=Millefleurs Tapestry with Medici Coat of Arms|url=false|author=|year=1520s|access-date=18 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1942.824