Conservator casts an intaglio gem

The Carlos Museum houses an excellent collection of carved gems from throughout the ancient world. In antiquity, the carved surface would have been pressed into either wax or clay to transfer the image. In collections, gems are generally displayed with impressions in clay or casts in plaster.

This slide presentation describes the process used in our Museum lab to make accurate and reproducible casts from the gems using silicone rubber molds.