The three hares motif is a design used in ancient art in areas ranging from the Far East to England. It typically appears in sacred art and architecture, though its meaning and origin are unknown. The three hares motif was used by Christian, Buddhist, Islamic, and Jewish cultures.

The basic design consists of three hares with conjoined ears arranged in a circle. Each hare appears to have two ears, but shares one with the adjacent hare, so that only three ears appear in the design. The ears form a central triangle with the hares in profile, often in a running or leaping pose.

While the remaining examples of the three hares motif cover a wide geographical range, the majority are located in southeast England, particularly Devon, where they appear on nearly 30 roof bosses (stone or wooden bas reliefs) in local churches, most medieval. All later examples are copies. In Devon, the design is commonly referred to as "Tinners' Rabbits," perhaps because local tin miners adopted the image as their trademark. The fact that tin miners regularly funded church repair and construction in the Middle Ages may be responsible for the profusion of the design in medieval churches in the area. Some private homes in Devon dating from the 16th and 17th centuries also feature the three hares design in their plaster ceilings.

After England, northern Germany and France are home to the largest amount of three hares examples. The oldest example, however, hails from Dunhuang in China. These two facts have given rise to two alternate theories about the origin of the motif; it may be an ancient German or English symbol, which would explain the great number of such designs in that area, or it may have traveled to western Europe from the East along trade routes.

In addition to roof bosses, the three hares motif appears in stained glass windows, floor tiles, paintings, and carvings in European churches, as well as on a bell in a German abbey. In China, the earliest three hares examples appear on Buddhist cave temple ceilings dating from the Sui and Tang dynasties (581-907 CE). In the Middle East and Eastern Europe, medieval examples of the three hares motif include glass, ceramic, and metal works. Some notable pieces are a thirteenth century Iranian coin and an elaborate Islamic reliquary casket from Southern Russia.

The beauty and mystery of the three hares design continues to inspire artwork into the modern day. Though its precise meaning is a matter of conjecture, hares and the number three hold ancient mystical significance. Hares have long been associated with lunar and feminine power. They were also thought in the ancient world to be hermaphroditic and capable of virgin birth, so the design may once have been associated with the Virgin Mary.