A Japanned Telescope from Cavour Castle in Santena: Study and Conservation Treatment of an Eighteenth-Century Scientific Instrument

ABSTRACT

The conservation treatment of a telescope belonging to the collections of Cavour Castle in Santena, Italy, is described. It is valuable both as a material testimony of the diffusion of scientific progress and as a rare example of a japanned telescope, providing evidence for the use of this decorative style in Piedmont between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Historical research was necessary to solve some questions regarding the manufacture and dating of the telescope. Comparison of the data and information collected with those of similar scientific instruments indicated with manufacture in northern Italy in the eighteenth century. The pigments and binder were identified, confirming the Western origin of the red lacquer that embellishes the outer tube of the telescope, applied on a leather support. Three-dimensional mock-ups were used to select the methodology and products for the conservation treatment, including the adhesion of lacquer lifting from leather and the infilling of losses in the japanned layer. The treatment aims were preservation of both the instrument and the traces left on it by time and events.

KEYWORDS:

• Japanning
• telescope
• lacquer on leather
• adhesives
• retouching

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Maria Rosaria Severino (Soprintendenza Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio per la Città Metropolitana di Torino), Caterina Thellung (Comune di Torino) and Nerio Nesi (Fondazione Camillo Cavour) for giving us the opportunity to study this interesting artefact. Our graditude also goes to Paola Manchinu (Centro Conservazione e Restauro ‘La Venaria Reale’), Roberta Bianchi (Polo Museale del Piemonte), Giorgio Strano (Museo Galileo Firenze) and Paolo Brenni (CNR Firenze) for their valuable support. Thanks also to Dafne Cimino (Università degli Studi di Torino) for carrying out the gas chromatography.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Tommaso Poli http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0160-5269