Page - 48 - in The Vienna Genesis - Material analysis and conservation of a Late Antique illuminated manuscript on purple parchment

48 The parchment of the Vienna Genesis: characteristics and manufacture tion of the parchment, as in that case it would have been thin and transparent and would have been attached to the hair side of the skin30. The patch is oval in shape and does not completely cover the hole, leaving a small gap visible in transmitted light. The edges of the patch were not thinned before the adhesive was applied, and are rather sharp as though they were cut with scissors. It can be assumed that the patch was added later, perhaps dur- ing the painting of the miniatures, see the chapter on miniatures. Careful observation has revealed that the edge of the hole is gelatinized (the purple dye makes the edge of the hole look dark). This would not have occurred if the patch had been applied during the wet stage of the process, which would have partially prevented strong gelatinization of the edge of the hole. There is also no evidence that a patch was applied over the hole on folio 11 dur- ing the parchment-making process. This hole has a very unnatural shape that was caused by a later deformation of the skin possibly during drying and flattening of the parchment in the process of a conservation treatment. This is confirmed by comparing the present appearance of the hole with a picture from the facsimile published in 1895, where the hole still had its original shape (Fig. 9). Late Antique parchment has a natural lustre that becomes more pronounced over time, as the surface of the parchment gradually ages. In the case of the parchment of the Vienna Genesis it is difficult to know how the original surface of the parchment looked, since it was greatly affected by various treatments that included overall applications of consoli- dants by brush or spray. There are many unnaturally shiny areas on almost all the folios, see the chapters on history and conservation. Fine linear wrinkles as well as much larger undulations that are observed on the surface of the parchment are not caused by the nat- ural movement of skin, but by attempts to flatten the folios and by storage between glass or polyacrylate plates. 30 See the later description of patches on the parchment of the Vienna Dioscorides. Fig. 8: Repair patch over the hole on folio 2 recto (left) and viewed from verso in transmitted light (right). Open-Access-Publikation im Sinne der CC-Lizenz BY 4.0