This thesis focuses on the technical examination of three reliquaries from the Imperial Treasury Vienna. One of these reliquaries contains the bone relic of Saint Elisabeth of Thuringia along with a wax scene depicting the saint caring for the poor. It originates from Augsburg where it was made around 1600 in a workshop connected to Matthias Walbaum. Two other reliquaries, designed as a pair, each bear a wax figure of a saint and an angel. They date to c. 1600 and were made in Munich after a design by Hans Krumper.
A short introduction into relics, their worship and reliquaries is followed by a detailed technical examination of the reliquaries in order to gain insight into their materials, manufacture, and deterioration and modification over time.
GC-MS analysis revealed that the material used for the wax is made of beeswax, pine resin and Venice turpentine. SEM-EDX was used to indicate that it was coloured with pigments such as cinnabar and lead white. Investigation with PLM has shown that human hair and sheep wool have been used to create the hair of the figures. Fibres have been identified as silk, cotton and flax.
The results of this investigation, as well as a review of available literature on wax conservation, informed the treatment proposal, which was consequently developed for the reliquaries. Conservation recommendations focus on the treatment of the wax, for which PEG or isinglass are recommended.
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This thesis focuses on the technical examination of three reliquaries from the Imperial Treasury Vienna. One of these reliquaries contains the bone relic of Saint Elisabeth of Thuringia along with a wax scene depicting the saint caring for the poor. It originates from Augsburg where it was made around 1600 in a workshop connected to Matthias Walbaum. Two other reliquaries, designed as a pair, each bear a wax figure of a saint and an angel. They date to c. 1600 and were made in Munich after a des...
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