[St. Ottilia, Patron saint of suffers from eye diseases. an unusual representation with a crab's pincer at the Mercy-Seat Altar in Bad Aussee (author's transl)].
On an altar-piece of the Gothic mercy-seat altar in the hospital church of Bad Aussee, made in 1449, Saint Ottilia, the patron saint of eye sufferers, is depicted with a crab's pincer, an attribute hitherto unknown. In the Middle Ages it was customary to put crab-eyes, which are calcium formations in the stomach of the crab, into the eyes of individuals to remove foreign bodies. As these crab-eyes are too small to be seen at any distance, the author takes the view that another typical and well-known part of the crab's body, more suitable for the representation, was used.
D001317:Austria; D005128:Eye Diseases / Q000266:history*; D049668:History, 15th Century; D049669:History, 16th Century; D049691:History, Medieval; D006801:Humans; D008512:Medicine in the Arts; D012068:Religion and Medicine
Die hl. Ottilie, Patronin der Augenkranken. Eine ungewöhnliche Abbildung am Gnadenstuhlaltar von Bad Aussee mit Krebsscherenattribut.