REFERENCES to depictions of pets in iconographic sources have abounded throughout this book, but in this chapter I shall focus on certain common motifs in a few genres. A large proportion of these portray pets with women; although there are many depictions of secular men with animals which could be pets, it is harder to interpret them, as the animals might have a dual function – dogs could be hunting hounds, for example. The pet, rather than just being a symbol of faithfulness, is an identity marker of noble women in general. The virtue of fidelity, especially involving death or self-harm, is often ascribed to dogs, specifically those owned by lay men; the pets of women and clerics are associated more with affection and close companionship. There is a close connection between pets, status, and identity, both in public images such as seals and funerary monuments, and in private images of identity, such as donor portraits in manuscripts.

Pets on funeral effigies

FUNERAL effigies remind the living of the deceased, as well as being public representations of personal identity. Although funeral effigies are formal representations of the dead, they are often individualized by details in the carving, through inscriptions, styles of robes or armour. The animals depicted in funeral effigies, normally at the feet of the figure, play a part in establishing the identity of the deceased.

The presence of pets has usually been explained in symbolic terms, with many art historians declaring them to be symbols of fidelity in the case of secular women and men, and faith in the case of clerics.