Raffaello, dama con l'unicorno, 1506 ca

The sitter is framed by two classical columns, wearing a dress with high-waisted green fabric and detached crimson sleeves. She wears a gold chain with a large ruby and pearl pendant, reflecting her high social status. The small unicorn she holds is a traditional symbol of virginal purity, suggesting the painting may have been intended as a wedding portrait.

The unicorn is a primary figure in the Western bestiary tradition, symbolizing purity and the ability of virtue to tame wild nature, a theme central to Renaissance Neoplatonic thought. The specific use of the ruby and pearl also relates to the lapidary traditions of natural philosophy, where stones were assigned moral and protective virtues.