Letter I c. 16th century

Editor: Here we have an anonymous engraving, "Letter I," from the Harvard Art Museums collection. I'm immediately struck by the figures intertwined with the letterform and foliage. What do you see in this piece? Curator: The letter 'I' becomes a vessel here, doesn't it? Consider how illuminated letters traditionally marked sacred texts. Here, the classical figures suggest a continuation of that tradition, but repurposed, perhaps for secular knowledge. The figures evoke a sense of flourishing, tied to the act of reading itself. Editor: That's a new perspective for me. It is interesting to think of the figures as part of the act of reading. Curator: The symbolic density of such images reminds us that even the simplest forms can hold layers of meaning.