04mc04-AL-2009_Nichelino, Hunting lodge by Stupinigi, G. B. Galletti, Inlaid coffee table, inv. 465

Facilitated description:

 

The coffee table by Giovanni Battista Galletti is decorated with different types of wood, mother-of-pearl, golden metal and ivory (material that is obtained from the tusks of elephants).
Galletti made the coffee table in 1776.
The table is kept at the Hunting Palace of Stupinigi.
The Conservation and Restoration Centre "La Venaria Reale" (CCR) restored the coffee table in 2009. 
The restorers placed the coffee table in an anoxic chamber, an oxygen-free chamber used to eliminate wood-eating insects.
They glued the detached wooden parts.
They cleaned the coffee table of dust.
They filled the wooden gaps with similar wooden tiles. 
They painted the new wooden tiles with watercolors.
They cleaned the metal parts and the inside paper of the drawers.
In the end, they put a protective product all over the coffee table.

 

 

 

 

Abstract of the intervention:

 

Restoration

During the restoration it was not considered necessary to intervene on the structure of the support as it is in excellent condition. On the pictorial surface and in particular on the decorative layer of the table, the artifact was disinfected in anoxic chamber and the decoese and raised paving parts were consolidated. In addition, a surface cleaning was carried out from dirt deposits with care to maintain the existing shellac coating (mechanically lightened with scalpels only on ivory tiles). In addition, gap integrations were carried out by gluing tiles of the same wood species and chromatic integrations with watercolor. Finally, the bronzes and the internal paper of the drawers were cleaned and a protective film was drawn up.

Bibliography

S. D. Blasi, Sheet 7 in I"the restoration of wooden furnishings. The Piedmontese cabinet-making. Studies and research", edited by C. E. Spantigati, S. D. Blasi, Firenze, Nardini, 2011, pp. 123-125