Various materials are involved in making inlaid cultural relics found in the Palace Museum. Inlay materials include all sorts of materialsgems, such as jade, glass, ceramics, bamboo, ivory, horn, pearl, coral, amber, shells, etc. The base materials are usually hardwood, lacquer and noble metals. Most of the inlay objects were cemented using sticky wax glue which was probably the most widely used binding material during the Ming and Qing dynasties to make inlaid objects. However, production of this sort of adhesive has already ceased. In this research, adhesive materials with different ratios of components were made according to recipes in the ancient literature and the advice of experts. First, the infrared spectrum of the modern adhesive was compared with that of the adhesive from a cultural relic; then the modern adhesive was tested for tensilestrength, shear strength and freezethaw resistance properties, in accordance with the national inspection standards of adhesive performance. The results of this phase show that the infrared spectral features of the sample are basically the same as those of the old adhesive from a cultural relic. The old adhesive is mainly a mixture of pine resin, beeswax and some oleaginous substance. The tensilestrength of the modern adhesive, with a rosin to beeswax ratio of 1to 1.5is 1.77 MPa.The shear strength is 1.26MPa. The tensile-strength after a freezethaw aging cycle is 1.87MPa. All the results indicate that this sample can satisfy the adhesive requirement of the inlaid cultural relics in the Palace Museum under normal room temperature.