Malterer tapestry, Embroidered bench hanging in the Augustinermuseum, Freiburg, Germany

The Malterer tapestry is a bench hanging made in 1320/30, embroidered in wool on linen. It measures 491 cm long and on average 66 cm wide, and shows eleven scenes framed as Gothic quatrefoils. Embroidered names Johannes and Anna point to the Freiburg patrons Johannes Malterer and his sister Anna.

The Malterer tapestry was embroidered in wool on linen around 1320–1330. The names Johannes and Anna Malterer are stitched into the first and eleventh roundels; Anna is documented as a nun at the Dominican convent of St. Katharina in Freiburg, but the tapestry itself was not made there. It is now a permanent loan from the Adelhausen Foundation in the treasury of the Augustinermuseum.

The tapestry is also called Weiberlistenteppich, after the theme of women outwitting enamoured men. Eleven scenes in Gothic quatrefoil frames pair a good and a bad example (ere/leit); the tenth, a unicorn resting its head in a woman's lap, stands alone as divine love. The embroidered names Anna and Johannes Malterer identify the donors.

The tapestry hangs in the Schatzkammer (treasury) of the Augustinermuseum in Freiburg as a permanent loan from the Adelhausenstiftung Freiburg. Look for it among the museum's ecclesiastical treasures rather than in the painting galleries.

The piece functioned in the Middle Ages as practical furniture accessory laid over sitting benches, yet combined artistically sophisticated narrative scenes. This fusion of everyday utility with high-quality artistic craftsmanship shows how artworks enriched private spaces in that era.