Easier for a flea shoe: miniature boxwood carvings
Photo © cameralabs.org
These figures are so tiny that they had to use a microscope and X-ray to study them.
It is known about the existence of a total of 135 miniature carvings made from boxwood, which bewildered art critics around the world.
It is believed that these wooden figures were created in a short period of time from 1500 to 1530 in Flanders or the Netherlands. The demand for high-quality pocket-sized figures of a religious nature arose with the advent of the social class of merchants. However, the Reformation soon began, and many church accessories went out of fashion, including box miniatures.
Using microcomputer tomography and advanced 3D scanning software, the researchers found out how difficult these miniature altars really are.
The inner layers are interconnected by completely hidden seams, which can only be detected with a microscope or X-ray. Separate fragments are attached to each other by the smallest connecting details. But most of the manufacturing process remains unsolved.
