The Michelfeldt Tapestry — Allegory on Social Injustice

The image is divided into two sections. On the left, a female figure stands beside a large wooden wheel labeled with various animals including a fox (Fuchs), a jay (Agerlafter), and a peacock (Pfab). She turns the crank of the wheel, while to the right, a procession of four men in distinct clothing—a peasant with a flail, a laborer with a bundle, a nobleman in fur-trimmed robes, and a soldier in plate armor carrying a halberd—strides forward. Above the men, a large, flowing ribbon banner contains several lines of early modern German text. The style is linear and stark, characteristic of Northern Renaissance woodcut prints, with high contrast between the figures and the empty, ground-like space they occupy.

This print reflects the mid-16th-century German focus on the 'Wandering of the World' and the transient nature of social hierarchy in the face of inexorable Time. It links to the tradition of German social critique known as 'Ständesatire' (satire of the estates) which gained prominence during the Reformation and the German Peasants' War.