Letter P c. 16th century

Curator: This is a woodcut print from the Harvard Art Museums, titled "Letter P" and created by an anonymous artist. Editor: It feels very much like a symbolic garden; I see the letterform itself overgrown and almost consumed by the foliate imagery. Curator: The "P," of course, is pregnant with meaning—perhaps "Paradise," "Perseverance," or even "Printing" given it’s a woodcut. Consider the cultural memory embedded in the letters we use daily. Editor: I am more interested in the technique. Woodcuts meant labor, skill, and a reproductive capacity, making such imagery available on a mass scale for the first time. Curator: I can't shake the feeling that the surrounding plant life offers hidden narratives, potentially alchemical or heraldic. Editor: Or merely decorative? The success lies in its production; we must also consider its consumption in its own time. Curator: Right, a beautiful collision of industry and artistry. Editor: Indeed, a little letter, with a large history.