Göbel (loc. cit.) was probably right to suggest that the present tapestry was woven in the Upper Rhine region, but there seems no reason to accept that the date he read as '1561' is the original. The style of the piece instead points to a date of execution around 1500. The subject of the lady and the unicorn, which the present tapestry shares with the Dame à la Licorne series in the Musée de Cluny in Paris, was an extremely popular one in the middle ages. It reflects the widespread belief that the only way to capture the fabled beast was to trap it with the help of a virgin, since it was thought that no unicorn could resist her.