Letter P with the Legend of Saint Philip

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

At the dawn of the sixteenth century, artists working with boxwood conceived something entirely new: intricate, tiny carvings, the likes of which had never been seen or imagined before. Among them, this Letter P is one of only three in the form of its first owner’s initial. A personal emblem to hold in the hand, it carries the implicit protection of Saint Philip, whose action-packed legend appears inside. The newly discovered Letter was likely made for Philip the Handsome, Archduke of Austria, Duke of Burgundy and Brabant and King of Castile. This tiny treasure is a tribute to the ingenuity of woodcarvers working in the Burgundian Netherlands, over which Philip ruled from the age of three until his untimely death at age twenty-eight.

Medieval Art and The Cloisters

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Museum's collection of medieval and Byzantine art is among the most comprehensive in the world. Displayed in both The Met Fifth Avenue and in the Museum's branch in northern Manhattan, The Met Cloisters, the collection encompasses the art of the Mediterranean and Europe from the fall of Rome in the fourth century to the beginning of the Renaissance in the early sixteenth century. It also includes pre-medieval European works of art created during the Bronze Age and early Iron Age.

Metropolitan Museum of Art