Wax writing tablets

The Israel Museum holds a pair of Byzantine writing tablet made of
wax, probably bees wax, poured into a double sided wooden tray with
raised edges.  The surface is covered with a scratched inscription
in Greek.

The wax has buckled, so that there are areas where it has lifted and
detached from the wood with resulting cracks, and some
fragmentation, with fragments falling out, but most of the tablet is
still in place and attached to the wood ground.

The wax is 1- 2 mm thick, and cannot be separated from the tray.
The wood is stable.  We would like to put the fragments back in
place, and stabilise the lifting part so that the object can be put
on display. Because it is double sided, putting the object
horizontal is not an option, as both sides suffer in a similar way.

We would appreciate advice from anybody with experience with similar
objects.


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 18:48
                  Distributed: Monday, April 11, 2005
                       Message Id: cdl-18-48-011
                                  ***