Medieval Wax Seals: Composition and Deterioration Phenomena of White Seals
TL;DRAbstract
The main subject of this article is the study of the composition, the morphology and the degradation phenomena in mediaeval seals. Fifteen white seals (sigilli bianchi, kranke Siegel, weisse Siegel, Blatterteig-Siegel, sceaux malades) of Swiss and Austrian origin and dating from the 13th to the 14th century were visually examined and analysed with TLC, FT-IR, MALDI-MS, XRF and PLM. Typical degradation phenomena of white seals are loss of plasticity, fragmentation and stratification. Analysis shows that beeswax it the only constituent present in white seals. No additives or degradation products were found. The result of PLM is particularly interesting: examination of microtomed sections shows that the seals have layers with differing crystalline structures. Research using artificially aged models has been carried out to gain more insight into this problem.
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The main subject of this article is the study of the composition, the morphology and the degradation phenomena in mediaeval seals. Fifteen white seals (sigilli bianchi, kranke Siegel, weisse Siegel, Blatterteig-Siegel, sceaux malades) of Swiss and Austrian origin and dating from the 13th to the 14th century were visually examined and analysed with TLC, FT-IR, MALDI-MS, XRF and PLM. Typical degradation phenomena of white seals are loss of plasticity, fragmentation and stratification. Analysis shows that beeswax it the only constituent present in white seals. No additives or degradation products were found. The result of PLM is particularly interesting: examination of microtomed sections shows that the seals have layers with differing crystalline structures. Research using artificially aged models has been carried out to gain more insight into this problem.
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