05mc01-AL-2017_Rome, Quirinal Palace, P. Piffetti, Pedestal for St. Michael, inv. PR 372

Facilitated description:

 

The pedestal is a large decorated wooden structure that served to support a statue of St. Michael.
Pietro Piffetti made the pedestal in 1736-1737 with different woods, mother-of-pearl, turtle shell, ivory (material obtained from elephant tusks).
The pedestal is located in the Piffetti living room of the Quirinale Palace in Rome.
The La Venaria Reale Conservation and Restoration Centre restored the pedestal in 2017.
Scientists at the Venaria Center did scientific analysis to study how the inside of the pedestal is made.
The restorers cleaned the pedestal of dust.
They cleaned the oxidized metal parts (ruined by contact with air).
They reconstructed some of the missing parts with similar materials.
They added a subtle color state to make the parts added with the restoration recognized.
They rebuilt some small parts in ivory.
Eventually they painted the pedestal to protect it from the sun's rays and dust.

 

 

 

 

Abstract of the intervention:

 

The restoration of the pedestal for St. Michael of the Quirinal Palace was carried out on the occasion of the exhibition From the Royal Palaces of Italy. Treasures and symbols of Savoy royalty (Reggia di Venaria, Sala delle Arti, 25 March - 2 July 2017).
Scientific insights have made it possible to analyze the work with computed tomography. Moreover, thanks to the comparison with TACs carried out on other eighteenth-century Piedmontese cabinet-making works, the presence of similar construction methods and similar problems was verified. Ultraviolet analysis, on the other hand, has made it possible to identify previous restoration interventions. 

Restoration

The intervention began with the chemical cleaning of the product to eliminate consistent deposits and wax residues. The eburnee sculptural decorations applied to the wooden artifact were treated with a first passage with aqueous solution and subsequently with laser cleaning. The gold brasses, strongly oxidized, have been cleaned with laser and micro-drill technology. For the wooden additions, species compatible with those used by Piffetti were used, while for the additions in ivory, turtle, mother-of-pearl and brass, the same material was used. To make these interventions recognizable, a thin layer of a pigment, bismuth oxide, with X-ray detectable radiopacity was applied to the back of the tiles. The wooden parts of the perimeter edges in the lower part of the cabinet were integrated using a two-component synthetic resin. Subsequently, the gap of the curl of one of the legs of the upper part was integrated, assembling small wooden blocks then laminated in rosewood. Finally, the missing parts of the applied eburnee sculptures were integrated, creating silicone rubber molds inside which the pigmented epoxy resin was cast and a final painting was applied.

Bibliography

- L. Morozzi, Sheet 40, in From the Royal Palaces of Italy. Treasures and symbols of Savoy royalty (catalogue), edited by S. Ghisotti, A. Merlotti, Genova, Sagep, 2017, pp.160-161; 
– F. Zenucchini, M. Cardinali, P. Croveri, P. Luciani, S. De Blasi, G. Dell’Aquila, V. Palleschi, LASER methodology applied to a cabinet-making work by Pietro Piffetti, in Proceedings of the VI conference ‘APLAR 6 – LASER applications in restoration’, Florence 2019, pp. 505-515.