Restoration of a Textile Artefact: A Comparison of Cleaning Procedures Applied to a Historical Tapestry from the Quirinale Palace (Rome)

The cleaning of textile artefacts and in particular historical tapestries is generally carried out using standard methods. Different cleaning procedures, including a new method based on a hydro-aspiration mechanism, recently developed by restorers with the aim of improving the efficiency of the cleaning system, were applied to a historical tapestry belonging to the lower edge of one of the tapestries of the “Ulysses Stories” series exhibited at the Quirinale Palace (Rome). The tapestry was made of wool and silk and has precious decorations made of metal yarns, which are particularly fragile. The new cleaning system was compared with the traditional methods commonly used by restorers for tapestry cleaning. For this purpose, the quantity and chemical composition of the particles removed and collected on quartz fibre filters by applying the different cleaning systems, were estimated by means of analytical techniques, such as IC (Ion Chromatography) for the quantification of the ionic species collected into the rinsing water, the TOT (Thermal Optical Transmittance) method for the quantification of the carbonaceous particles and SEM-EDX (Scanning Electron Microscopy coupled to Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy) for yarn morphological characterization and elemental analysis of the deposited particles. The objective of this study is to identify the correct cleaning method to apply to the polymaterial tapestry and, in particular, to the gilded silver and gold metallic yarns, whose conservation state requires the preservation of the “self-protection” patina necessary for the future exhibition inside the Quirinale Palace. The new hydro-aspiration method was found to be more efficient in removing dirt and preserving the structure of the metallic threads being in this way less invasive in detaching the fragile surface patina and at the same time more effective in removing dirt.