ABSTRACT
A laser cleaning treatment was specifically designed to remove distinct alterations from a waistcoat, conserved at the Civic Museums of Modena (Italy), which was manufactured between 1690 and 1720 but had been remodelled during the nineteenth century. A first set of tests was conducted to remove the oxidation patina of eight different types of metallic threads and sequins of the embroidery. The second set was performed to obtain a chromatic lowering of tidemarks and stains on the silk taffetas, both from the nineteenth and the eighteenth-century. Trials were performed using Nd:YAG lasers (QS 1064; 532 nm and LQS-1064 nm) and supported by an analytical campaign carried out by means of 3D optical microscope, SEM-EDS and colorimeter. The laser treatment of the nineteenth-century silk was unsatisfactory, while positive results were obtained on the eighteenth-century silk and on all metallic threads and sequins, which led us to clean the entire garment.
