62-AL-2006_Nichelino, Hunting lodge by Stupinigi, G. B. Galletti (attr.), Coffee table, inv. 4738

Facilitated description:

 

The coffee table is an inlaid piece of furniture (decorated with different types of wood).
Giovanni Battista Galletti created the coffee table in 1771.
The table is kept at the Hunting Palace of Stupinigi.
The Centro Conservazione e Restauro La Venaria Reale restored the coffee table in 2007 after its discovery. The table was stolen in 2004.
The restorers have placed the coffee table 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 consolidated (made more stable) the detached wooden parts. 
The coffee table had gaps (lacks) in the wooden decoration.
The restorers supplemented (filled the decoration gaps) with similar wooden tiles.
They stuccoed (filled with beeswax) the holes caused by xylophagous insects (insects that feed on wood).
In the end they painted the coffee table to protect it from the sun's rays and dust.

 

 

 

Abstract of the intervention:

 

The restoration of the coffee table attributed to Giovanni Battista Galletti was completed in 2008 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 lodge of Stupinigi in 2004. After the restoration, the work was relocated to the Palazzina.

 

Restoration

The coffee table was subjected to disinfestation in anoxic chamber for a period of three weeks. Subsequently, a differentiated surface cleaning was carried out depending on the types of material. The lifts were glued and the missing lastronate tiles were integrated with the same wood essence. The new tiles were tuned with watercolors. The flicker holes were stuccoed and it was itself a layer of protective paint on the entire surface of the work. 

 

Bibliography

S. De Blasi, Factsheet 5, in "The restoration of wooden furnishings. The Piedmontese cabinet-making: studies and research", edited by C. E. Spantigati, S. De Blasi, Firenze, Nardini, 2011, pp. 93-95.