Jacopo Corsi
In January 2015 I defended my PhD project, discussing a thesis concerning the analysis and the physico-chemical characterization of ancient coins. I developed an excellent knowledge of chemical and physical analyses for the characterization and conservation of works of art, both in laboratories of the University of Torino and in renowned facilities such as the RAL at ISIS (Oxford) and the BNC (Budapest). Along the years, I was able to gain considerable expertise in the field of numismatics, art and archeology of classical, medieval and modern age. I took part to several archaeological projects all around Italy for more than ten years.
Supervisors: Alessandro Lo Giudice and Federico Barello
Supervisors: Alessandro Lo Giudice and Federico Barello
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Papers by Jacopo Corsi
La collezione è indissolubilmente legata alla figura di Luigi Bruzza, barnabita e studioso di archeologia, che nella seconda metà del XIX secolo acquisì sul mercato antiquario e tramite donazioni vasi di ogni genere, lapidi con iscrizioni, selci preistoriche, frammenti di intonaco dipinto, monete e molto altro ancora.
La collezione è indissolubilmente legata alla figura di Luigi Bruzza, barnabita e studioso di archeologia, che nella seconda metà del XIX secolo acquisì sul mercato antiquario e tramite donazioni vasi di ogni genere, lapidi con iscrizioni, selci preistoriche, frammenti di intonaco dipinto, monete e molto altro ancora.
La collezione è indissolubilmente legata alla figura di Luigi Bruzza, barnabita e studioso di archeologia, che nella seconda metà del XIX secolo acquisì sul mercato antiquario e tramite donazioni vasi di ogni genere, lapidi con iscrizioni, selci preistoriche, frammenti di intonaco dipinto, monete e molto altro ancora.
Résumé - La colonie phocéenne de Massalia introduisit sa propre monnaie vers 525 av. J.-C. La drachme « lourde », une monnaie d’argent pesant environ 3,7 g, avec les représentations d’une tête d’Artémis et d’un lion marchant à droite, fut probablement frappée durant le iiie siècle. Dans cette étude, nous analyserons les principales caractéristiques de cette dénomination, comme la chronologie, les découvertes et l’organisation de l’atelier. Une étude des liaisons de coins, basée sur un corpus de 90 exemplaires qu’il a été possible de recenser, permet d’estimer la quantité originale de coins et de formuler des hypothèses quant à la production de l’atelier de Massalia. Par comparaison avec d’autres cas, les possibles raisons de l’introduction de cette dénomination sont discutées.
X-ray computed tomography (CT) is now used in the cultural heritage field because it is non-invasive and it can give a large amount of information on the inner structure of the object under study. Until recently mainly medical CT scanners or micro-CT setups have been used, limiting the analysis to relatively small artworks or requiring multiple acquisition and difficult image-joining for objects larger than detector dimensions.
Results
To overcome the limitations of ordinary CT devices, a facility for the X-ray tomography of large size artefacts has recently been designed and installed in a protected area of the Fondazione Centro Conservazione e Restauro “La Venaria Reale”, a Centre for Preservation and Restoration. This facility, based on a X-ray source, a linear X-ray detector and a high precision mechanical system, has been and will be used to gather information on materials, manufacturing techniques and conservative conditions of artworks undergoing the restoration process.
In this paper the results of the tomography of the first analyzed large artistic object are presented, giving an idea of the wealth of information obtained from the CT scan. The presented artwork is the writing cabinet called “doppio corpo”, a masterpiece of furniture more than 3 m high, inlaid for Savoy Residences by Pietro Piffetti, the most famous cabinet-maker in Piedmont in the XVIII century. The artwork is now housed in the Quirinale Palace, the official residence of the Italian President in Rome.
Conclusions
The CT analysis permitted us to obtain valuable information about the conservative conditions, the presence of previous interventions, the distribution of various materials and the dimensions and arrangement of several wooden pieces, thus allowing for interesting hypotheses about the building technique of this masterpiece.
X-ray imaging is a very powerful tool which can be exploited in several fields. In the last few years, its use in archaeology has grown consistently. One of the most recent and interesting applications of computed X-ray tomography (CT) is the analysis of soil blocks, coming from excavations, in order to seek for finds of different kinds and materials possibly contained therein. For this purpose, both medical and industrial CT scanners have been employed. In this paper, the application of a CT instrument specifically designed and developed for the analysis of Cultural Heritage materials is presented. We analysed a soil block extracted from a necropolis in the Italian region of Abruzzo and probably dating back to the VI-IV century B.C., which was found to contain a bronze belt.
Results
Thanks to the versatility of the CT equipment we designed, a complete scan has been obtained in less than four hours and has delivered extremely useful information in a completely non-invasive way. The CT dataset and images allowed a virtual extraction of the find to be performed before the actual stratigraphic recovery that, in this case, was simplified thanks to the merging of the archaeological evidences and with information coming from scientific analyses. The information provided by the tomography consisted in: the distribution, shape and dimensions of fragments composing the artefact; indications about its general conditions; the recognition of repairs done in the past and the presence of different materials (although not precisely identified).
Conclusions
The use of CT has great potential for the work of both archaeologists and restorers. The indirect extraction of an artefact from an archaeological excavation, which entailed moving a soil block to the laboratory, allowed one to reconstruct almost all its parts and to collect information about materials. CT analysis has been particularly useful for determining both its conditions and its repairs before the actual recovery, thereby facilitating the restoration process.
The recovery and conservation of an historical piece like the one presented here can help archaeological and conservation studies, enrich a museum collection and contribute to the dissemination of acquired cultural information.