At Heirloom Tapestries, you may have noticed that we offer a variety of mille-fleur tapestries. These beautiful, handwoven tapestries make a wonderful addition to any room in your home, and because of their rich history, can offer a great conversation starter when you have guests. One of the greatest parts of owning art that has such a long history is that there is so much to learn about them. In this blog, we will go over what mille-fleur means, and the history of this tapestry style.

What is mille-fleur?

Literally translated from French, mille-fleur means “a thousand flowers.” It refers to a style of tapestry that incorporates a variety of small plants and flowers into the background. The mille-fleur was developed in Europe in the late Middle Ages and Early Renaissance periods, primarily between 1480 and 1520, and was revived by William Morris & Co in the 19th century.

This style isn’t like many other traditional floral decorations of the time in the sense that there are a great variety of types of plants with intricate whole designs, no repeated pattern, and they do not overlap at all. In this style, the plants are spread across a green background that represents grass, so that it appears to be a meadow filled with flowers. In Medieval times in France, this type of tapestry was called verdure. These tapestries also often feature animals or humans. Usually, there is a large figure at the forefront of the tapestry. This seems to be because of the way the labor was divided in creating tapestries under the guild system, at least in Brussels. Weavers could design the backgrounds themselves, but were required to use figure designs by the members of the painters’ guild. In general, the subjects of these tapestries were secular, but were sometimes religious.

The history of mille-fleur tapestries 

The mille-fleur style reached its peak popularity in France and The Netherlands in the late 15th and early 16th century. The most famous mille-fleur tapestry set is probably that of The Lady and the Unicorn. This is from what is known as the “classic” period of mille-fleur tapestries, in which each plant was uniquely hand-designed and improvised by the weavers. In later tapestries, plants would mirror each other on each side, suggesting that the weavers used a sketch to trace the same plant twice.

The exact origin of the mille-fleur style is not known, although it is thought it could emanate from the practice of strewing flowers on fȇte days; however, there are examples that indicate that the style could have started developing a century before it reached its peak popularity. In the Apocalypse Tapestry series, there are backgrounds covered in vegetation similar to mille-fleur style, but they spring from the border. Additionally, the Devonshire Hunting Tapestries of the 1420s feature verdant backgrounds with mille-fleur-like meadows, but also include the sky and the sea, making it distinct from the usual mille-fleur style.

In the 1800s, Morris & Co. revived the mille-fleur style, incorporating it into many tapestry designs, such as the Pomona and The Achievement of the Grail tapestries.

Now that you know all there is to know about mille-fleur tapestries, it is time to invest in one of your own! At Heirloom Tapestries, we offer many wall tapestries in the mille-fleur style. When you are ready to make this wonderful addition to your home, shop Heirloom Tapestries for a high-quality and wide selection.