Page - 29 - in The Vienna Genesis - Material analysis and conservation of a Late Antique illuminated manuscript on purple parchment
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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
The Vienna Genesis
Material analysis and conservation of a Late Antique illuminated manuscript on purple parchment
- Title
- The Vienna Genesis
- Subtitle
- Material analysis and conservation of a Late Antique illuminated manuscript on purple parchment
- Editor
- Christa Hofmann
- Publisher
- Böhlau Verlag
- Location
- Wien
- Date
- 2020
- Language
- English
- License
- CC BY 4.0
- ISBN
- 978-3-205-21058-0
- Size
- 17.3 x 24.5 cm
- Pages
- 348