20-AL-2008_Turin, Museum of Decorative Arts Accorsi-Ometto, P. Piffetti, Folding chest of drawers with two doors (double body), inv. M39

Facilitated description:

 

The double body is a wooden cabinet formed by a chest of drawers with a writing desk and at the top by a wardrobe with a door.
Pietro Piffetti made the double body in 1738 with different types of wood, ivory and turtle shell.
The furniture is kept at the Museum of Decorative Arts Accorsi Ometto in Turin.
The Centro Restauro La Venaria Reale restored the double body in 2008.
The scientists at the Center did scientific analyses such as TAC (an analysis to study the internal structure).
The restorers placed the double body in an anoxic chamber, an oxygen-free chamber for which it serves to eliminate wood-eating insects.
They cleaned the double body and made the layer of ruined paint thinner.
They filled the missing parts with wood and ivory.
They filled the missing parts of the sculptures with stucco (plaster and glue layer).
They've gilded the new stucco parts.
In the end they painted the furniture to protect it from the sun's rays and dust.

 

 

 

 

Abstract of the intervention:

 

The Double body Piffetti is part of a large intervention project that, through a very articulated scientific study and analysis campaign (TAC, XRF, UV fluorescence, radiogradia, analysis of wood essences), has allowed to increase technical and executive knowledge on eighteenth-century Piedmont cabinetmaking and to correctly orient the conservative recovery of the work. In this sense, the results of the TAC were particularly relevant because they made it possible to understand the types of cuts adopted for the solids and their arrangement. 
After the restoration, the furniture was presented to the public during a dedicated day The Double Body of Piffetti (Fondazione Pietro Accorsi) -27 February 2009- as part of the cycle of meetings Conversations at court.

Restoration

The intervention began with a disinfestation of the artifact in anoxic chamber and the application of insecticide. Subsequently, a cleaning of the wooden parts and sculptural elements was performed and the thinning of the oxidized varnish. The integrations of the tiles were made with the same wooden species and glued with animal glue and the slits were filled. The ivory parts have also been integrated and the engraving has been replaced by a chromatic recovery with paint colors. Finally, the gaps were grouted and gilded with gouache leaf and a protective film was spread over the entire surface. 

 

Bibliography

- Tab 12, in "The restoration of wooden furniture. The Piedmontese cabinet-making. Studies and research", edited by C. E. Spantigati, S. De Blasi, Firenze, Nardini, 2011, pp. 175-179;
- C. E. Spantigati, A restoration for conservation and knowledge, in A masterpiece by Pietro Piffetti, Torino, Allemandi, 2010, pp. 73-74; 
- M. Ravera, Technical sheet of restoration, in "A masterpiece by Pietro Piffetti", Torino, Allemandi, 2010, pp. 75-77.