Silvered Ceramics in the National Archaeological Museum of Florence: Virtual Technologies in Analysis and Restoration

Giulia DIONISIO¹ / Daniele LICARI²
(¹University of Florence / ²Scuola Normale Superiore of Pisa, Italy)

Keywords: ceramic, virtual environment, 3D technologies, virtual restoration

Abstract:
The National Archaeological Museum of Florence has in storage a batch of about 50 ceramic silvered vessels of Etruscan production (late fourth and early second century B.C).
Silvered vessels were a production decorated in relief and coated with a white-grey film to reproduce the effect of a silver surface. This factory was intended for funerary matters and for a low cost imitation of toreutics.
Damaged by the Florence flood of 1966 and by old restorations, this Florentine collection has never been studied and shown to the public. In this ambit, Dr. Dionisio is developing a PhD project at the University of Florence with the purpose to study, preserve and restore this collection through diagnostic analysis and modern restoration techniques.
Within this project, the collaboration with DREAMSLab (Distributed Research Environment for Advanced Modeling and Simulation Laboratory) at the Scuola Normale Superiore of Pisa is particularly interesting.
Thanks to the support of Dr. Licari, three silvered ceramics of the Florence Archaeological collection have been selected for pilot applications: for one of these  a screen will be develop to study the performed analyses in a virtual environment; for the second, a model of surface reconstruction has been devised and for the third, a virtual restoration is under construction.
The applied techniques will allow a direct visualization both of the first diagnostic tests applied to the artifacts and of the reconstruction of the complete surface coating using 3D technologies and virtual reality application.
The virtual restoration is a very useful application in the planning of a subsequent restoration project. We would like to reconstruct virtually an ancient Etruscan vessel and print it in its entirety through a 3D printer. The printed model will be used and enriched by an augmented reality application that integrates tactile sensations to levels of virtual information.
This contribution aims to outline the advantages obtained by the application of virtual techniques to this archaeological research. The combination of science and archaeology is now increasingly necessary to understand, study and convey to the public the various aspects of ancient societies.