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)

Abstract

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.