Page - 29 - in The Vienna Genesis - Material analysis and conservation of a Late Antique illuminated manuscript on purple parchment

Christa Hofmann, Sophie Rabitsch 29 Strips of silk gauze Small strips of silk gauze (about 1 x 8 mm) were applied as bridges to gap long tears, e. g. on folio 1, page 1 (Fig. 3). They were also used on most folios on the upper and sometimes lower corners in a former mounting. It is assumed that the folios were mounted with silk strips on the glass plates in the 1920s when the folios were re-housed after their return from Italy. Under UV light, two types of silk gauze can be distinguished: one fluoresces blueish (type 1), the other pinkish (type 2). Both can be seen on the reproductions in the facsimile from 1931. Type 1 was used on corners and on tears, while type 2 was only used on the corners. Differences in adhesive might be responsible for the blueish or pinkish tones under UV-light. It is assumed that Alois Liška applied the strips of silk gauze in the early 20th century. Paper fibres Whitish paper fibres are visible on the ink in text areas (Fig. 13) and on tears in the mini- atures (Fig. 10) of several folios (folios 1, 15, 16, 17, 20, and 21). Some paper fibres might originate from former repairs with paper that were later removed, as mentioned in the first facsimile edition by Hartel and Wickhoff in 1895. Some tears (folio 1) are mended with paper fibres that seem to originate from thinned paper or Japanese tissue. A similar mend- ing technique can be found in the Vienna Dioscorides, which was conserved in the 1960s by Otto Wächter, as mentioned above. The appearance under UV-light is comparable. We assume that Hilde Kuhn used paper fibres and thinned tissue paper to mend tears in 1975. Fig. 13: Folio 17, page 33, detail of stabilising ink with paper fibres. Open-Access-Publikation im Sinne der CC-Lizenz BY 4.0