Feature
Gems & Gemology, Winter 2010, Volume 46, No. 4
A Study of the Gems in Ciborium from Einsiedeln Abbey
Stefanos Karampelas, Marie Wörle, Katja Hunger, Hanspeter Lanz, Danilo Bersani, and Susy Gübelin
The gemstones that adorn a late-16th-century ciborium from Einsiedeln Abbey in Einsiedeln, Switzerland, were investigated by nondestructive gemological methods and EDXRF and Raman spectroscopy at the Collections Center of the Swiss National Museum. The ciborium is decorated with 17 colored stones: 10 almandine garnets, four grossular garnets, and three sapphires. Inclusions in the sapphires and a historic description of the piece suggest a Sri Lankan origin for the gems.
