124mc4-AL-2016_Caravino, Castello di Masino (FAI), F. Bozelli , Fan, inv. SBAS TO 482

Facilitated description:

 

The fan is a piece of furniture that hangs on the wall. The fan is painted wood and has a glass mirror.
Francesco Bozelli made the fan at the end of the 1700s. 
The fan is kept at the Castle of Masino in Caravino.
The castle of Masino is an asset of the Fondo per l'Ambiente Italiano (FAI).
The La Venaria Reale Conservation and Restoration Centre restored the fan in 2016.
The restorers placed the fan in an anoxic chamber, an oxygen-free chamber that serves to eliminate wood-eating insects. 
The restorers cleaned the fan in front and behind to remove dust, glue from the old restorations and a yellow layer.
They glued the detached wooden parts. 
They filled the holes of the lengo with stucco (plaster and glue).  
They rebuilt some parts of the wooden decoration with similar wood. Behind the wooden parts they put a substance to make the pieces added during the restoration recognizable. 
They put a product to protect the wood from the sun's rays and dust and insects that eat the wood.

 

 

 

Abstract of the intervention:

 

The restoration of the painted wood fan and tablet of the Queen's Chamber of the Castle of Masino was carried out on the occasion of the exhibition Genius and mastery. Furniture and cabinetmakers at the Savoy court between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries at the Reggia di Venaria (Sala delle Arti, 17 March - 15 July 2018). 

Restoration

The operation began with a disinfestation in the anoxic chamber for three weeks. Cleaning operations were followed from incoherent surface deposits in a differentiated way on the front and on the back. In addition, residues from previous bonding were removed and a yellow layer of natural resin was detected, probably due to maintenance work. It followed the consolidation of the lifts with acrylic resin and the gaps were grouted with plaster, glue and addition of bismuth to allow the recognition of the intervention thanks to the different radiopacity of the material. Some missing floral elements have been integrated by filling the molds obtained from the casts of the mirror decorations. Subsequently, to re-establish the spatial development of the fan, a fiberglass support structure was built. The crowning of the fan was also supported with a hemispherical fiberglass structure. The plasterings were retouched with watercolors with the dotted technique. Finally, on the back of the work, anti-moth solution was laid for preventive purposes and the surface of the fan was protected with aliphatic resins with low molecular weight, reversible and particularly suitable for the protection of wooden artefacts.

 

Bibliography

-S. De Blasi, P. Luciani, M. Nervo, V. Tasso, F. Coccolo, F. Zenucchini, The restoration of the furnishings: a critical approach to historical research, technical analysis and scientific investigations, in Genius and mastery. Furniture and cabinetmakers at the Savoy court between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries at the Reggia di Venari, edited by S. De Blasi, Allemandi, pp. 183-193;
- A. Wegher, Sheet 48, in Genius and mastery. Furniture and cabinetmakers at the Savoy court between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries at the Reggia di Venari, edited by S. De Blasi, Allemandi, 2018, pp. 263-264.