Hello everyone. Here is a reduced image of the Pallio that concerns Dr. Pessa.
Mary W. Ballard
Senior Textiles Conservator
Smithsonian Museum Conservation Institute
4210 Silver Hill Road
Suitland, Maryland 20746
Tel 301-238-1210 Fax 301-238-3709
From: Textile Conservators [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
On Behalf Of Loredana Pessa
Sent: Wednesday, March 01, 2017 10:53 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Display of a very large and important Byzantine Textile
Good morning
I’m the Curator of Textiles Collection of the City of Genoa and I would like to kindly ask for your help with an important question
regarding the display of an extraordinary Byzantine silk in our collections, the Byzantine “Pallio,”as it has come to be known in the scholarship. It is associated with the Treaty of Nymphaion (1261), the Genoese-Byzantine alliance forged with the intention
of reconquering Constantinople from the Latins. This large textile (1,323 x 3,76 meters), a red samite, is embroidered with silk and metallic threads, as you can see from the attached file. Since 2009, the Opificio delle Pietre Dure in Florence begun the
restoration work on “Pallio” that will be end in October or November 2017. According to the restoration project, metallic threads will be deoxidated by manual treatment. Now, we must project a show-case to display the “Pallio” in the Sant’Agostino Museum
after the restoration. Regarding this one, the chief of Textiles Department of Opificio delle Pietre Dure, Susanna Conti, suggested us a show-case containing materials suited to the task of controlling humidity but, above all, oxygen-free and with humidified
nitrogen to avoid the reoxidation of metal threads.
Please, could you answer the following questions:
- Do you know in any Museum or private collection show-cases oxygen-free and with humidified nitrogen suited to ancient textiles?
- Do you know of other examples of display of large ancient textiles characterized by just deoxidated metal threads?
Every advice is welcome.
Loredana Pessa
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Dott.ssa Loredana Pessa
Conservatore Raccolte Ceramiche, Collezioni Tessili, Museo Luxoro
Ufficio: Musei di Strada Nuova, Palazzo Bianco, Via Garibaldi, 11
16124 Genova
tel.: +39 010 5572254 - 3355699493 fax: +39 010 5572269
