43-AL-2006_Nichelino, Palazzina di Caccia di Stupinigi, I. and L. Ravelli (attr.), Cassettone, inv. 2889

Facilitated description:

 

The chest of drawers is an inlaid wooden cabinet (decorated with different types of wood) and with some bronze parts.
Ignazio and Luigi Ravelli made the chest of drawers in 1790-1799.
The chest of drawers is kept at the Palazzina di Caccia di Stupinigi.
The La Venaria Reale Conservation and Restoration Centre restored the chest of drawers in 2006-2007 after the furniture was found. The chest of drawers was stolen in 2004.
The restorers have placed the chest of drawers in an anoxic chamber (room without oxygen that serves to eliminate insects that feed on wood).
They carried out a cleaning (cleaned the surface from the dirt deposited over time or from the layers of old restorations).
They integrated (filled) a split of the wood with a piece of wood similar to the original.
The restorers consolidated (made more stable) the parts that were detaching.
The chest of drawers had gaps (missing parts) in the wooden cladding. 
The restorers integrated (filled) a gap with the same type of wood. 
They filled holes caused by xylophagous insects (insects that feed on wood) with colored wax.
In the end they painted the chest of drawers to protect it from the sun's rays and dust.

 

 

 

 

Abstract of the intervention:

 

The restoration of the chest of drawers attributed to the Ravelli brothers was completed in 2007 under the supervision of Pinin Brambilla Barcilon. The intervention was carried out on the occasion of the discovery of the nucleus of works stolen from the Hunting Palace of Stupinigi in 2004. After the restoration, the work was relocated to the Palazzina.

 

Restoration

The furniture was subjected to disinfestation in anoxic chamber for a period of three weeks. Subsequently, a cleaning was carried out to eliminate atmospheric deposits. Consolidations were then carried out: the slit at the left end was compensated with a strip of the same wood essence, while the slab lifts were glued. In addition, the pieces of a previous restoration at the level of the third drawer were deprived of the pictorial retouching and again intoned with watercolors. The missing tiles were integrated with the same essence, while the gaps and flicker holes were stuccoed with pigmented wax. Finally, it was a protective paint itself.