Mille-fleurs tapestries are believed to have been generally woven around 1500. The wide variations in quality, the relative short period in which they were produced and the number of pieces known indicate that there were a number of different workshops that made these tapestries. A precise location of manufacture has as yet not been identified with certainty, although it is generally believed to be from Southern Netherlands.

A number of mille-fleurs tapestries are known to include scenes of courtly life (hunts, falconry, cavalcades and concerts). This tapestry forms part of a group illustrating the romanticised life of shepherds. A related tapestry of a shepherd with two maidens and various sheep and other animals is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and is illustrated in A.S. Cavallo, Medieval Tapestries in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1993, p. 480, fig. 34, while a further tapestry with similarly drawn sheep, a shepherd and a maiden and with various inscriptions is in the Musée des Gobelins, Paris, and illustrated in R.-A. Weigert, French Tapestry, London, 1962, plate XXIII.

A related mille-fleurs tapestry from the series of the five senses was sold by the Hon. Lady Baillie, Sotheby's London, 13 December 1974, lot 224, while a further example of a courtly lady with a boy falconer in the background was sold anonymously in these Rooms, 2 July 1981, lot 10