124mc05-AL-2017_Turin, Civic Museum of Ancient Art - Palazzo Madama, T. H. Peters, Center table, inv. 1751-L

Facilitated description:

 

The center table is a round table decorated with different types of wood.
Henry Thomas Peters made the table in 1843 from wood, ivory and metal.
The table is kept at the Civic Museum of Ancient Art (Palazzo Madama) in Turin.
The La Venaria Reale Conservation and Restoration Centre restored the table in 2017 for an exhibition.
The restorers placed the table in an anoxic chamber, an oxygen-free chamber that serves to eliminate wood-eating insects.
Then they cleaned the whole table with chemicals.
Eventually they glued a flower-shaped decoration that had come off.

 

 

 

 

Abstract of the intervention:

 

The restoration of the center table by Henry Thomas Peters of Palazzo Madama (Turin) 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 held at the Reggia di Venaria (17 March - 15 July 2018). The table was originally placed in the castle of Pollenzo.

Restoration

The table was subjected to disinfestation in anoxic chamber for a period of three weeks and treatment with permethrin. The entire surface has been chemically cleaned to eliminate atmospheric deposits. The residues of glue in the vicinity of the detached floral element were therefore eliminated. This part was reattached with adhesive and pressure using springs.

 

Bibliography 

C. Arnaldi di Balme, Tab 86, 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. 312-313.