20-AL-2013_Turin, Museum of Decorative Arts Accorsi-Ometto, P. Piffetti, Strong bonnet

Facilitated description:

 

The strong hood is a wooden cabinet formed by a coffee table and at the top by a trunk (container with lid).
The strong hood is used to hold objects such as wedding gifts.
Pietro Piffetti built the strong hood in 1750-1760.
The strong hood is kept at the Museum of Decorative Arts Accorsi Ometto in Turin.
The La Venaria Reale Restoration Centre restored the furniture in 2013.
Scientists at the Venaria Center did scientific analyses to recognize the types of wood used and to study the structure of the furniture.
The restorers glued the raised wooden tiles.
They cleaned the strong hood and eliminated the substances of the old restorations that covered the cabinet.
They filled the missing parts of wood and ivory with similar materials.
During the cleaning, the restorers saw that the colors were ruined and the engravings on the ivory were difficult to see.
They reconstructed the decoration with watercolors.
In the end, they painted the work to protect it from the sun's rays and dust.

 

 

 

Abstract of the intervention:

Restoration

The restoration of the Strong bonnet Piffetti was preceded by an extensive diagnostic campaign: targeted sampling made it possible to identify the different wood species of which the work is composed, digital radiography investigated the structure of the lid and highlighted traces of pre-existing elements, while FT-IR, XRF and UV analyses identified the nature of the restoration material, used as a replacement for ivory, to verify its compatibility.
The work began by securing the tiles and slabs that were no longer attached, followed by chemical cleaning to remove the altered substances from the previous restorations, taking care not to compromise the original polychromes. The traces of pre-existing glue were then removed, thus allowing the preparatory design to emerge. The paving tiles raised from the support were made to adhere using animal glue, while synthetic resins were used for those plastics. The gaps in the wooden and ivory decorative apparatus have been reintegrated with materials similar to the originals, making the intervention recognisable. During the cleaning, the degradation of polychromy and the difficult reading of the ivory engravings emerged, for this reason, the RTI (Reflectance Transformation Imaging) analysis was carried out for a better recognition of the chromatic characteristics of the work of art. It was thus possible to pictorially reconstruct in watercolor the chromatic features little visible to the naked eye. Finally, the tiles added during the restoration phase were chromatically tuned and a layer of final protective varnish was applied.

 

Bibliography 

AAVV, The restoration of the strong hood by Pietro Piffetti of the Accorsi-Ometto Foundation, in Pietro Piffetti. The king of cabinetmakers, the king's cabinetmaker, edited by Fondazione Accorsi-Ometto, Silvana Editoriale, Milan, 2013, pp. 56-71.