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Restoration department: ceramic, plastic, and glass materials

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Activity information

The Laboratory

Location

The laboratory of the Ceramic, Plastic, and Glass Materials Restoration Department is located within the historical headquarters of the OPD in via degli Alfani, 78.

Restoration activity, research, training

This department deals with the restoration of ceramic, wax, plaster, and stucco artefacts, as well as glass materials.

In recent years, innovative systems and new materials have been developed for the assembly of terracotta artworks, ensuring less invasive interventions and their reversibility. More traditional systems of adhesion and the use of pivots have been replaced with stainless steel, carbon and resin structures.

The research conducted in wax restoration has also allowed achieving levels of excellence, thanks to a high specialisation in these specific materials and the use of particularly sophisticated equipment mediated from medical and dental technology. The restoration expertise in wax artefacts developed over the years within the department has also been applied to medical and scientific collections, attracting many consultation and collaboration requests on behalf of non-Italian collections. A particularly challenging restoration work is that of the botanical waxes from the Museo della Scienza, Florence, a unique collection consisting of 187 specimens from the late 18th century onwards, that accurately reproduce species rare at the time and identified in inscriptions on porcelain vases made by the Ginori factory, consistent with the new classification introduced by Carl Linnaeus.

Works in recent years include the restoration of Andrea della Robbia’s ten putti from the façade of the Spedale degli Innocenti, Florence, and the restoration of the Visitation by Luca della Robbia from the Church of San Giovanni Fuorcivitas, Pistoia.

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OPD. Settore di restauro Materiali ceramici, plastici e vitrei