124mc21-AL-2017_Tremezzina, Villa Carlotta, G. M. Bonzanigo, Cassettone, inv. 3527

Facilitated description: 

 

The chest of drawers is a wooden cabinet with two drawers, a marble shelf and golden decorations. 
Giovanni Maria Bonzanigo made the chest of drawers in 1789. 
The chest of drawers is kept at Villa Carlotta in Tremezzina. 
The Centre for Conservation and Restoration "La Venaria Reale" (CCR) restored the chest of drawers in 2017 on the occasion of an exhibition. 
The restorers placed the chest of drawers in an anoxic chamber, an oxygen-free chamber that serves to eliminate wood-eating insects. 
They cleaned the chest of drawers of dust with a small vacuum cleaner. 
Then they cleaned the painted parts to eliminate the green-yellow paint from a previous restoration. 
They cleaned the oxidized metal parts (ruined by contact with air). 
They glued the detached wooden parts. 
They rebuilt the missing parts with similar wood.
They filled the gaps with putty (plaster and glue). They put together a chemical to make the parts added during the restoration recognizable.
They colored the putty with watercolor. 
In the end, they painted the chest of drawers to protect it from the sun's rays and dust and covered the scratches on the marble shelf with watercolors. 

 

 

 

 

Abstract of the intervention:

 

The restoration of the Bonzanigo chest of drawers 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 (Reggia di Venaria, 17 March - 15 July 2018). 

Restoration

The main objective of the restoration was the cleaning to eliminate the green-yellow color, referring to a recent repainting, and recover the cream tones also described by the historical documentation. 
The restoration began with the disinfestation in anoxic chamber for a period of three weeks and the brushing of anti-moth solution. The atmospheric deposits were then removed from the wooden surface with vacuum cleaners. The cleaning was deepened in a differentiated way depending on the material: chemical cleaning on gilding and metal parts and dry cleaning on painted parts. 
Subsequently, the consolidation of the lifts was carried out with resin injections and the profiles of the missing chests of drawers were reconstructed using the same wooden essence. 
The preparation gaps were filled with the addition of bismuth to make the intervention recognizable. The grouting was then supplemented with watercolor colors and mica powder.
Finally, the artifact was protected with a resin painting and the abrasions of the marble top were integrated with watercolor colors and protected with microcrystalline wax. 

 

Bibliography

S. De Blasi, Sheet 19, 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. 254-255.