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Letter P with the Legend of Saint Philip

ca. 1500–before 1506
On view at The Met Cloisters in Gallery 14
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.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Letter P with the Legend of Saint Philip
  • Date: ca. 1500–before 1506
  • Culture: Netherlandish
  • Medium: Boxwood; later (18th century) embroidered silk pouch
  • Dimensions: Open: 2 13/16 × 3 7/8 × 1/4 in. (7.1 × 9.9 × 0.7 cm)
    Closed: 2 13/16 × 1 15/16 × 1/2 in. (7.1 × 5 × 1.2 cm)
    Open with tenon: 2 13/16 × 3 7/8 × 3/8 in. (7.1 × 9.9 × 1 cm)
    Pouch: 3 1/8 × 2 3/16 × 1/2 in. (7.9 × 5.5 × 1.3 cm)
  • Classification: Sculpture-Miniature-Wood
  • Credit Line: Purchase, The Cloisters Collection; Gift of Joseph W. Drexel, by exchange; Bequest of Fannie F. Einstein, in memory of Emanuel Einstein, by exchange; The Michel David-Weill Foundation, Caroline Howard Hyman, and The Ruddock Foundation for the Arts Gifts; and Bequest of Mrs. A. M. Minturn, Gift of Alice M. Dike, Bequest of Gwynne M. Andrews, and Fletcher Fund, by exchange, 2017
  • Object Number: 2017.10a, b
  • Curatorial Department: Medieval Art and The Cloisters

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