Vaško antspaudų sudėties tyrimai

Abstract

The article reports on an analysis of ten wax seals (with the shells) authenticating various documents of 1411–1783. The seals were chosen by the sphragistics expert Dr. Edmundas Rimša and the Head of the Manuscript Department of the Library of the Academy of Sciences Rima Cicėnienė. Analysed were the Great Seal of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the Small Seal of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the seals of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania Žygimantas Kęstutaitis and Kazimieras, of the Bishop of Vilnius Albertas Taboras, of the noble Jonas Skinderis, of the city of Kaunas. The methods of atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS) and atomic fluorescence spectrometry (AFS) were used to determine the heavy metals in the seals. The elemental composition of the seals and of their shells was analysed by the method of scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM/EDS). In addition, organic structure units in the matter of the seals and their shells were specified by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The analysis was performed in the Environmental Research Department of the Environment Protection Agency under the Ministry of Environment of the Republic of Lithuania.