Kept today at the Abbey of Mariënlof in Borgloon, the Reliquary of Saint Odile is thought to be the oldest work painted on panel from our regions. According to the Charter of the Convent of the Crusaders of Maaseik, the work dates from 1292. However, the charter, which was enacted in the 15th century, is not contemporaneous with the work, so there remains a degree of uncertainty about the date of the work.

After researching the history and iconography of the reliquary, as well as the legend of Saint Odile, Jeroen Reyniers turned to the exact sciences to check the written sources in order to try and confirm the hypotheses he set out in the publication "Le reliquaire de Saint Odile. Redécouverte d’un trésor caché" (The Reliquary of Saint Odile. Rediscovery of a Hidden Treasure). This second phase should reveal the origin of the reliquary, as well as how it was made.

A dendrochronological examination of the wooden panels should enable the work to be dated, but also to reveal the type of wood used and its geographical origin. This is a method of dating wood by counting the number and studying variations in the thickness of a tree’s annual concentric rings.

An analysis of the pictorial layer, using X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (XRF), which measures the reverberation of X-rays on the material being analysed, will provide details about the pictorial composition.

And finally, a carbon 14 analysis of the relics themselves should permit verification of whether they are contemporaneous to the life of Saint Odile (4th century). This dating method for organic matter is based on measuring the radiological activity of carbon 14 (14C) contained in the matter tested and indicates the period of time to have elapsed since death.