124mc01-AL-2017_Agliè, Ducal Castle, Armchair, inv. 307

Facilitated description: 

 

The armchair is made of wood, fabric and metal. 
The armchair was made in the Piedmontese workshops in 1820-1830. 
The armchair is kept at the Ducal Castle of Agliè. 
The La Venaria Reale Conservation and Restoration Centre restored the armchair in 2017 on the occasion of an exhibition. 
The restorers placed the chair in an anoxic chamber (room without oxygen that serves to eliminate insects that eat wood). 
They put on the wooden parts a product against insects that eat wood. 
They cleaned the chair from dust with different methods for the wooden parts and for the leather parts. 
They cleaned the metal parts damaged by contact with air. 
The restorers rebuilt a piece of wood in the lower right because it had been eaten by insects. 
In the end they painted the armchair to protect it from the sun's rays and dust. 

 

 

 

Abstract of the intervention: 

 

Restoration carried out on the occasion of the exhibition on display Genius and mestria. Furniture and cabinetmakers at the Savoy court between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries (Reggia di Venaria, Sala delle Arti 17 March - 15 July 2018). 

Restoration

The intervention on the armchair, coming from the Ducal Castle of Agliè, began with disinfestation in anoxic chamber for a period of three weeks and subsequent treatment with anti-moth solution (permethrin) to eliminate the symptomatic attacks. The cleaning of the deposits was carried out by suction and with the help of brushes on the textile part, while on the wooden part it was carried out with aqueous solution. The metal portions were treated with compresses to eliminate oxidation. A small part of the right front foot, eroded by insects, was supplemented with the same wooden essence. Finally, the surface has been protected with varnish with a UV filter. 

 

Bibliography

G. L. Bovezi, Sheet 73, in Genius and mestria. Furniture and cabinetmakers at the Savoy court between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries (catalogue), edited by S. De Blasi, Turin, Allemandi, 2018, pp. 292-293.