D45mc01-02-MT-2019_Modena, Museo Civico, Marsina e sottomarsina, inv. 9 Co. II, 10 Co. II

Facilitated description:

 

The marsin and the undermarsin are elegant men's clothes.
The marsin is a type of jacket and the undermarsin is the dress you wear under it. 
The clothes were made during the 1800s. 
The clothes are kept at the Civic Museum of Modena. 
The La Venaria Reale Conservation and Restoration Centre restored the clothes in 2019-2021. 
A restoration student restored the clothes for her thesis (final exam). 
Scientists at the Venaria Center have done scientific analysis to study the materials and understand what are the original tissues and those added in the 1800s. 
The restorer cleaned the clothes using different methods depending on the material to be treated. 
The restorer reinforced the torn and ruined fabric with needle stitches. 

 

 

 

 

Abstract of the intervention: 

 

The restoration of the marsina and the undermarsina of the Civic Museum of Modena was carried out as part of a thesis project of the Course in Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage by Valentina Scaglia.
The in-depth study of the artifacts has highlighted their original eighteenth-century invoice, then modified through numerous and consistent alterations, presumably nineteenth-century.
The extensive diagnostic campaign (X-ray-induced fluorescence spectrophotometry, X-rays and scanning electron microscopy equipped with EDX probe) made it possible to characterise the materials and confirm the presence of elements produced at different times. Therefore, the restoration has sought to enhance the heterogeneity of the materials and to calibrate different intervention methodologies. Different cleaning methods have therefore been tested: consistent gores and deposits on the silk and oxidations of the metal yarn of the undermarsin were treated with Laser-induced physical cleaning and chemical cleaning by means of rigid gels. On the two dresses were also made consolidations of gaps and needle tears. The entire restoration was carried out without ever having to unstitch the packaging of the two dresses. 

 

 

Bibliography

- V. Scaglia, "Marsina" and submarsina eighteenth century: technical, historical analysis and restoration of two reworked clothes from the Civic Museums of Modena, Master thesis in Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage, Prof. Graziella Palei, Monica Gulmini, academic year 2019-2020;
- V. Scaglia, F. Zenucchini, A. Piccirillo, C. Ricci, Laser cleaning of an eighteenth-century waistcoat from the Civic Museums of Modena: Preserving silk and metallic threads, in LACONA, Lasers in the Conservation of Artworks· Photonics in Diagnostics and Conservation, Florence, 12-16 September 2022;
- V. Scaglia, G. Palei, M. Gulmini, M. B. Failla, S. De Blasi, A. Piccirillo, F. Zenucchini, R. Genta, Experimentation of chemical cleaning of the metal yarns of an eighteenth-century under-marsin of the civic museums of Modena, in Proceedings of the 20th IGIIC National Congress – The State of the Art, Nardini, Turin, 2022, pp. 81-88; 
- conference Curating and Preservation of clothes and fabrics in museums, 21-22 October 2021 at La Venaria Reale Conservation and Restoration Centre.