Decorative Woodcut Ornament

528 578 These handwritten numbers are likely archival shelf marks or cataloging entries added by a library or collector at a later date.

[This page features a detailed decorative woodcut and contains no primary text.]

This leaf displays a finely crafted woodcut woodcut: a print made from a design carved into the surface of a block of wood ornament. Such decorations were standard in 16th and 17th-century book production, used by printers to beautify the volume or identify their printing house.

The image depicts two putti putti: artistic representations of chubby, often naked, male children common in Renaissance and Baroque art standing on a decorative pedestal. They flank a central staff decorated with floral patterns. Each figure holds a cornucopia cornucopia: a "horn of plenty," a traditional symbol of abundance and nourishment, usually shown as a large horn-shaped container overflowing with produce.

Apart from the archival numbers in the margin, the page is otherwise blank. There is some faint ghosting ghosting: the light, mirrored impression of ink visible through the paper from the text printed on the reverse side visible from the following page, but it is not part of this page’s original composition.