17mc13/14/15-AL-2013_Nichelino, Stupinigi Hunting Lodge, Stools, inv. 730, 734, 735

Facilitated description: 

 

The three stools are made of gilded wood and fabric.
The three stools are kept at the Hunting Palace of Stupinigi.
The La Venaria Reale Conservation and Restoration Centre restored the stools in 2013. 
The restorers placed the three stools in an anoxic chamber (room without oxygen that serves to eliminate insects that eat wood). 
They cleaned the gilded wood parts.
They stopped the gilding parts that were coming off.  
They filled with stucco (plaster and glue) the missing wood parts and holes caused by insects eating the wood. 
They painted the stucco with watercolors. 
They put a product against insects that eat wood. 
In the end they painted the stools to protect them from the sun's rays and dust. 

 

 

 

 

Abstract of the intervention:

 

Restoration

Initially the three pincer stools of the Scudieri room were disinfected in the anoxic chamber for a period of three weeks. Subsequently, a chemical cleaning and mechanical scalpel removal of the most consistent sediments was carried out on the entire golden surface. The wooden surface not covered by gilding and the central metal pin were cleaned with ethanol. Consolidation of the lifts was carried out with injections of acrylic resin and the gaps were filled with stucco (bologna plaster and animal glue), then blunted with brass canvas and scalpel. The fillers have been chromatically integrated with watercolor colors and mica powder. The flickering holes have been filled with waxy putty added with natural pigments. Finally, preventive disinfestation with solution and final painting were carried out.