Conservation treatment
"The restoration of antique textiles does not aim at returning them to their former glory. The intervention that we as restorers carry out is minimal; we take care of the textiles so as to preserve them over time, as part of our cultural heritage. Each intervention is conducted in a reversible manner, so that in the future it can be corrected and replaced by better technologies that the next generations may have at their disposal."
With this approach, Irene Tomedi, ancient textiles conservator, dedicated herself to the careful conservation treatment of the child mummy. In the Eurac Research laboratories, she worked on the three tunics with which the child was prepared for burial: two coarse thread tunics, one dyed indigo and the other embroidered with black thread on the sleeves, and a two-colored, squared overtunic in fine thread.
Analysis of the state of conservation and cleaning
The conservation treatment of the child mummy was carried out by only treating the linen garments which cover the body. The precarious state of the human remains made it difficult to treat the textiles, which were degraded, torn, and flimsy. The intervention restored solidity and homogeneous appearance to the tunics.
After a typological analysis of the dirt (sand, salts, body fluids) deposited on the fibers, initial cleaning was carried out with a micro-needle nozzle. Dirt that had penetrated deep into the fibers was removed by dabbing with sponges soaked in demineralized water while adequately protecting the body. This treatment made it possible to eliminate creases in the fabric and to understand the formal characteristics of the tunics.
The fragile parts were secured with entomological pins.
The tunics were integrated and consolidated with suitably dyed linen and silk fabrics. The coarse thread linen tunics were consolidated with a linen fabric. The over-tunic was consolidated with silk Lyon veil.
The conservation expert
Irene Tomedi is an expert on historical textiles. She was born in Bolzano and studied at the State Institute of Art in Ortisei, then in Switzerland at the Abegg Foundation's specialization school (Riggisberg, Bern). She teaches theoretical and practical subjects in textile conservation and works with national and international institutions and museums. One of the most important conservation projects she undertook was conducted on the Turin Shroud in 2002. She is also a member of the International Centre of Sindonology (Turin) and on the board of directors of the European Textile Academy (of which she is also one of the founding members).
The conservation treatment was carried out by antique textile restorer Irene Tomedi and with the support of MUR (FOE E-RIHS IT and PON Ricerca e Innovazione 2014-2020, CCI: 2014IT16M2OP005).
