Methods and Tools for the Classification and Cataloging of Antique Moulds from the Collection of the Richard-Ginori Factory

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Available

online

at

ScienceDirect

www.sciencedirect.com

Original

article

Methods

and

tools

for

the

classiﬁcation

and

cataloging

of

antique

moulds

from

the

collection

of

the

Richard-Ginori

factory

Monica

Gherardelli

a,∗

,

Giulia

Adembri

b

_,

_Rita

_Balleri

a

_,

_Sergio

_Di

_Tondo

c

a_Department_of_Information_Engineering_(DINFO),_University_of_Florence,_Via_S._Marta,_3,₅₀₁₀₀_Florence,_Italy

b_ICON_Foundation,_Via_Madonna_del_Piano_6,₅₀₀₁₉_Sesto_Fiorentino,_Florence,_Italy

c_Department_of_Architecture_(DIDA),_University_of_Florence,_Piazza_Ghiberti,_27,₅₀₁₀₀_Florence,_Italy

a

r

t

i

c

l

e

i

n

f

o

Articlehistory:

Received11April2013

Accepted3November2013

Availableonline27November2013

Keywords: Plastermould Data-Base Virtualmodel 3Dlaserscanning Artisticporcelain Richard-Ginorifactory

a

b

s

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a

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Thisstudyproposesaprocedurefordigitallyclassifyingandcatalogingmouldswhichbelongtothe historiccollectionoftheGinoriporcelainfactoryinDoccia(SestoFiorentino,Italy).Inadditiontoa vastnumberofantiqueplastermoulds,thiscollectionincludesartisticporcelainartifactsobtainedfrom castingporcelainusingthemouldsandmodelsmadeofvariousmaterials.Theproposedmethodology includestwoworkflows:thefirststartswithphotographicandcastingprocessesconductedrecentlyon variousgroupsofmouldsandinvolveshistoricalsurveysforinvestigatingtherelationshipsbetweenthe varioussetsofmoulds,themodelsfromwhichtheywerederivedandtheporcelainobjectsderivedfrom them.Thesecondworkflowwasappliedwhennoinformationwasavailableforasetofmoulds,and involved3Dscanningofthemoulds,withvirtualreconstructionofthecorrespondingmodelfollowed byafinalarthistoricalsurveylikethatusedinthefirstprocedure.3Dscanningtechniquesand succes-sivemodelreconstructioncanalsobeappliedforobtainingavirtualmodelinthefirstprocess,when thephysicalmodelwaslost,damagedorneverexisted.ThevarietyandextentoftheGinoricollection suggestedtheuseofacustomizedData-Base(DB)andasetoffunctionsdesignedtomanageandextract information,dataandarchivedimages.Thisfilingsystem,calledDocciaDigitalArchive(DDA),alsomakesit possibletospecifytherelationshipsbetweenthedifferenttypologysamples(prototypemodels,moulds derivedfromthem,handmadeporcelainobjectsproducedfromthesemoulds),whichareassociated whenthesamesubjectisportrayed.TheDBstructureconceivedalsoprovidesthepossibilityof incorpo-ratingpicturesanddataofknownarchetypes.Thisadditionalinformationmakesitpossibletoplaceeach subjectinitshistoricalandartisticcontext.ForeachsamplefiledintheDDAsystem,documentarycards, whichsummarizedata,images,reportsandlinkstootherentitiesorsamplesconnectedtothesubject consulted,canbeviewedonasuitableinterface.

1. Researchaims

Thiswork is partof a projectfor documenting the remark-ablecollectionoftheRichard-Ginorifactorywhichincludesartistic objectsinporcelain,antiquemodelsinwax,plasterandterracotta, fromwhichpiece-mouldsderive,andthousandsofantiquemoulds. Inthispaper,thefocusisontheclassiﬁcationmethodologyofthe collectionofmoulds,whichmakesitpossibletoseewhatobjectit wasusedtomakeandtorelateeachsetofmouldstothemodelfrom whichitwasderivedandtheporcelainversion.Anon-invasive3D scanningofmouldsandsubsequentvirtualreconstructionarepart oftheproposedmethodologyasanalternativetothetraditional

∗ Correspondingauthor.Tel.:+390554796519.

E-mailaddresses:monica.gherardelli@uniﬁ.it(M.Gherardelli),

giulia.adembri@gmail.com(G.Adembri),rita.balleri@alice.it(R.Balleri),

sergioditondo@ndas3a.it(S.DiTondo).

methodofclassificationbasedonthecastingmethod.Adigital sys-temofarchivingandconsultation(DDA)wasspecificallydesigned tofiledata,imagesandrelationshipsbetweensamplesconstituting theRichard-Ginoricollection.

2. Introduction

Startingin1737,whenMarquisCarloGinorifoundedthe “Mani-fatturaGinori”(hereaftercalledtheDocciaManufactory)onhis estate atDocciainSesto Fiorentino,hepurchased sculpturesin plaster,terracottaandwax,whichwereusedastemplatesforthe production ofplaster mouldsnecessary forporcelain modeling. These templatesorprototype modelsarealsocalledderivation models.Thehistoryofthesemodelsisverylong,andrangesfrom thosecreatedbysculptorsandacquiredbyCarloGinori,tothose createdbyfactorymodelersand,inthenineteenthcentury,by aca-demicartistswho collaboratedwiththeManufactory[1,2].The

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480 M.Gherardellietal./JournalofCulturalHeritage15(2014)479–489

Fig. 1.View of the “Voltone” at the GRG factory, ex-Richard-Ginori factory

(©AssociazioneAmicidiDoccia/ArrigoCoppitz).

collectionof theDocciaManufactoryalsoincludesthousandsof artisticporcelainartifactsmadebetween1737and1895whenthe factorybelongedtotheGinorifamily,itemsproducedlater, start-ingin1896,whenthefactorywasownedbytheRichard-Ginori CeramicSociety, and a vast number of antique plaster moulds (calledpiece-moulds,becausetheyaremadeupofmanypieces), housedinthefactorywarehouse,calledthe“Voltone”(Fig.1).The originalnucleusofthiscollectionwascreatedinabout1744[3]. Eventheplastermoulds,whichwereoftenacquiredwiththe cor-respondingmodels,areclassiﬁedaccordingtowhethertheywere createdinasculptor’sworkshoporbyamodelerinthefactory.

Uptonow,variousdifficultieshavehinderedasystematic clas-sificationoftheentireDocciacollectionandparticularlythatofthe mouldcollection,andadetailed descriptionoftherelationships betweenthevarioussamplesthatmakeupthecollection.Among thesedifficultiesarethefollowing:

• theestimatednumberofmouldsisabout7thousand,butthe exactnumberisunknown;

• thederivationmodelisoftenmissingbecauselost,damagedor neveravailablebecausethecorrespondingmouldsweremodeled outsidethefactory;

• duetothecomplexityoftheinternalsurfacesofpiece-moulds, thesubjectrepresentedinsideisoftendifﬁcult,ifnotimpossible, toidentify;

• differentnumberingwasattributedtobothderivationmodels andcorrespondinggroupsofmouldsinhistoricalcatalogues.The relatednumbershavebeenchangedovertimeduetothegrowth ofthecollectionandtotheuseofsomepiecesinthe Manufac-tory’sproduction.

Two separate attempts to create documentation have been made.Aporcelaincastingprocessusingsomeoftheantiquemoulds wascarriedoutbetween1960and1968[4]:thisprocess,called theCampanaCampaignafterthemanufactorydirector,produced 2250porcelainartifacts.Asecondprojecttodocumentthe Richard-Ginorihistoricalcollectionstartedin2007,when15,000objects wereinventoriedthroughbothphotographicanddigitalsurveys [4].Arelatedcastingcampaign,calledLuchiCampaign,afterPiero Luchi,thepersoninchargeofartisticcastinginthefactory,involved 1000plasterpiece-moulds,butthousandsofthemstillhavetobe classiﬁed.

3Dlaserscanningofthemould’sinternalsurfacesandthe sub-sequentvirtualreconstructionofthereproduciblesubjectcanbe usedasanalternativetoporcelaincastingforrediscoveringthe unknownsubjecthiddeninsideofthemould.Thevirtualmodel thusgeneratedcanalsoreplacetheoriginaltemplateinallrespects

[5,6].Whenthederivationmodelismissing,itmakesitpossibleto producecopiesofthecorrespondinggroupofmouldsandhence preservethevaluablemouldsinthecollection.Moreover,the3D imagethatisobtainedallowsustorecoverthemissinglinkbetween thesetofmouldsandtheoriginalmodel.Theapplicationofthis techniquetoagroupofmouldsbelongingtotheRichard-Ginori collectionisillustratedindetailinreferences[5,6].

Virtualmodels,originaltemplatesinwax,plasterandterracotta, theircorrespondingsetsofmouldsandporcelainstatuettescanbe classiﬁedandminedfromanadhocdevelopedsystem.Thissystem, calledtheDocciaDigitalArchive(DDA),includesacustomizedDBand asetoffunctionalitiesdesignedtoinsert,manageandextract infor-mation/dataandarchivedimages.Itsolvessomeoftheproblems listedabove,asisillustratedbymeansofsomesamplesselected fromtheDocciacollectionthatarebrieﬂydescribedinthenext section.

3. Materialandrelationships

Awidevarietyoffigurativesculptures,ornamentsofvarious kinds,bas-reliefsandotherartisticsubjects,suchaslithophanes, cameos,etc., reproducibleby castingor pressingporcelain into moulds,havebeenpartoftheDocciaManufactoryproduction his-toryforalmostthreecenturies.Thesubjectsrepresentedinthe sculptures rangefromsingle figurestotwo figuresand groups, often inspired by classical epics or pastoral scenesto more or lesscomplexrepresentationsofmythologicalorreligiousepisodes. Thetypesofrelationshipsthathavetobeidentifiedandusedfor classification,inadditiontothoseamongasetofmoulds,its deriva-tionmodelandporcelaintranslations,relatetodifferentvariants ofthesamesubjectproducedbytheManufactory.Theporcelain versionmaydifferfromtheoriginalmodelbecausechangeshave beenmadeintheposeofthefiguresorthedecorationsduetoan errorinassembly orproductiondifficulties.Inothercases, vari-ationscaused bychanges intaste overtime maybepresent in subjectsthatweresuccessfulin thepastand werethereforein productionforalongtime.Itisinterestingtosearchforthesame subjectcreatedbytheartistinmodelsand/orsetsofmouldsthat weremadeelsewhereandsubsequently acquiredbythe Manu-factory,inordertohighlightpossibledifferencesandextendthe documentation about the origin of the sample and its deriva-tion.

Therewasalsoanotheraspectoftheproductionprocessthat complicatestheclassificationofthemoulds:sometimesan acces-sory figure or a part of a subject (e.g. a putto belonging to a composition,thebaseorhandlesofavase)wasre-usedinother subjects.Thisoccurrencemakesitdifficulttoidentifytheentireset oftheoriginalmoulds,sinceoneormoreofthemmayhavejoined anothergroup.

Some information and links were established on the basis of insights obtained from studies of archival documentation, consisting in old production catalogs [2], the inventory of the Richard-Ginori Museum of the Doccia Manufactory (hereafter referred toastheDocciaMuseum)[7,8] andtheprivateGinori archives[9].Documentaryresearchoneachsubjectbeganwiththe studyofinscriptionsengravedonthemoulds,usuallyonthelargest ofthegroup,andcatalognumbersthathadbeenplacedonthemin variousproductionperiods.

SomedeﬁnitionsutilizedintheDDAsystemareshowninTable1 inordertofacilitatecomprehensionofthechartspresentedlater.

Varioustypesofsubjectsareconsideredinthispaperas rep-resentativeofa largepartofthecollection.Thestudythat was conductedonthesesubjectsandontheavailabledocumentation madeitpossibletoidentifyandspecifytherelationshipsmentioned above.

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Table1

Deﬁnitions.

Name Deﬁnition

Mouldorpiece-mould Impressioninplaster,madeupofseveral

pieces,inwhichwax,clayorporcelainiscasted orbeatentomakestatuesorotherreliefworks

Pieces(ofamould) Partsofthebreakdownofamould

Groupofmoulds(or

modelmoulds)

Setofmoulds,shapedonthemodel,necessary

tomakereplicasofthemodel

ModelorPhysicalModel Prototypeforcreatingthemoulds,whichcan

usuallybemadeofterracottaandplaster.

Sometimesmodelswerenotmadefordirectly

creatingmoulds,buttheywereusedas

examplesforassemblyofporcelainproductsor

toshowtocustomers(i.e.modelsinplasteror wax)

Virtualmodel(Complete DigitalModel)

Virtualthree-dimensionalrepresentation, obtainedfromthereconstructionofthe

three-dimensionalsurfacesofthemoulds

constitutingamodel,throughscanning

Porcelaintranslation Porcelainsampleobtainedbycastingthe

porcelainintopiece-moulds

Cast Sampleobtainedbycastingamaterialinto

piece-moulds.Speciﬁcally,waxcastsareatrue copyoftheoriginalmodel,becausewaxisnot subjecttoshrinkage(seedeﬁnitionofmodel)

Transition Passageofamouldfromonemouldsetto

another.Particularlyduringthenineteenth century,thesculptorsormoldersofthe

Manufactoryusedsomepiecesfromasetof

moulds,alreadypresentinthefactory,and

collectedthemwithotherpiecesofmoulds

thattheyhadcreated(hybridgroupsof moulds)

Archetype Theoriginalmarbleorbronzestatue,from

whichthemodelwascopied;thearchetype

andmodelcanhavedifferentsizes

Invention Originalideaofanartist.Itmaynotcoincide

withtheabove-deﬁnedarchetype.Anexample

ofaninventionistheRattodelleSabine(The

RapeofSabineWomen),themarblesculpture

byGiambologna(invention),whosegreat

successdeterminedvariousreplicasoneof

whichisan18thcenturybronzestatuettein

theCorsiniPalaceinRome(archetype)

Amongthemouldsacquiredbythemainsculptorsinthelate BaroqueFlorentinetraditionarethosebelongingtothePietàgroup, byMassimilianoSoldaniBenzi,whichwasrecentlyrediscoveredin the“Voltone”(2010).Differentporcelaintranslationsfromthese mouldswereobtained,includingonefromtheCampanaCampaign andanotherbyPieroLuchi.

AmongthemouldscommissionedbyGinoriwerethosemade fromantiquemarblestatues.Mouldswiththisoriginincludethose obtainedfromtheVenusde’MediciattheUfﬁziGalleryinFlorence since1677.SmallsizereproductionsoftheVenusmouldsandtheir correspondingplastermodelwerecreatedintheeighteenth cen-tury.

Wehavealsoconsideredagroupofmouldsentitled“Gigante N.1”(inthefollowing referredtoasGiantN.1),accordingtothe inscriptiononthelargestmouldoftheset.Theartisticfeaturesand historicalinformationrelatingtothesubjectaretheresultofthe 3Dlaserscanningofthemoulds,whichmadeitpossibletoobtain avirtualmodelofthesubject[6].Thesurveyenabledustoﬁnd threeoutoffourterracottamodels,allentitled“Gigante”(Giant), byanunknownartistanddistinguishedbyprogressivenumbers, probablynotmadeattheManufactoryanddatingbacktobefore 1800[6].Theyarementionedinaproductioncatalogdatableinthe

ﬁrstquarterofthetwentiethcentury[7].Findingthewholeseries amongtheCampanaCampaignproductsallowedustodeducethat threeadditionalsets ofmoulds,onefor eachcataloguedmodel, couldstillbefoundinthe“Voltone”.

Table2 summarizesthe objectsthat werestudied classiﬁed accordingtothefeaturesshown.

4. Classiﬁcationmethodology

Whenweconsiderthedocumentarycampaignscarriedouton themouldsinthepast,wecansummarizetheircharacteristicsas follows:

• theCampanaCampaign(1960–1968)aimedatcreatingasetof samplesandproducednumerousunﬁnishedartifacts,obtained bycastingporcelainintoundamagedsetsofmoulds.Theonly sur-vivingdocumentaryreferencesconsistofnumbersengravedon thebasesoftheseartifacts,whichprobablyrefertothenumbers writtenonthecorrespondingsetsofmoulds;

• theLuchiCampaign(2009–2010)produced187porcelainartifacts ofsigniﬁcantartisticvalue.In thesameperiod15,000objects wereinventoriedthroughbothphotographicanddigitalsurveys [10].AdigitalinventorywasthuscreatedonExcelﬁleswhere,in additiontoabriefdescriptionofeachobject,areferencenumber tothecorrespondingphotographisinserted.

Previouscampaignsusedthetraditionalmethodofcastingto rediscoverthesubjectshiddeninside themoulds.Theymadeit possibletocatalogueseveralsetsofmouldsbuttheydidnottake intoaccountaproperclassification.Actually,anattempttodigitize theinformationstartedin2007[4],butitwasnotsuitablefora classificationofthewholecollection.Moreover,anappropriatetool forasystematicandefficientstorage,whichincludeddynamicdata management,wasnotconsidered.

Thispaperpresentsaworkﬂowmethodologyformould classiﬁ-cationthatusesaninnovativetechnique,composedofacquisition through 3D scanning and virtual reconstruction [11]. Scanning andvirtualreconstructionaresuccessfullyusedinothercontexts [12,13],butheretheyshowdistinctivefeaturesbecausethesurface reliefiscarriedoutinnegative(Section4.1.1).

TheDDAsystemsupportsthemethodologyforstorage, manage-mentandextractionofinformation,imagesandrelationstoitems inthecollection.Itwassuitablydesignedanddevelopedforthe contextoftheMuseum.

Thismethodologymakesuseofresultsfromearlier,traditional campaignsandmakesitpossibletointegratetheirdatawith miss-inginformation.

4.1. Methods:workﬂows

The methodology wasdeveloped according totwo different flows,asillustratedinFig.2.Thestartingpointinthefirst work-flow(Fig.2A)isthegroupofporcelaintranslationsobtainedfrom mouldsusedindocumentarycampaigns:porcelainproductsfrom theLuchiCampaignandtheCampanaCampaign.Thefigureshows theclassification stepsequence: data,imagesand relationships characterizingLuchi’sproductscanimmediatelybeinsertedinto theDDA.ThisclassificationroutewasfollowedforSoldaniBenzi’s Pietà and the small Venus de’ Medici. Each porcelain statuette obtainedfromtheCampanaCampaignisalreadylinkedtothe cor-respondingsetofmouldsbecausethenumberofthesetisinscribed onit;thisnumbermakesitpossibletosearchforthecorresponding mouldsetinthe“Voltone”.

Thefollowingstepsincluderesearchonhistoricinventoriesin ordertoﬁndtheirphysicalmodelifitisattheMuseum;otherwise,

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482 M. Gherardelli et al. / Journal of Cultural Heritage 15 (2014) 479–489 Table2 Artisticsubjects.

Artisticsubject Type Moulds Model Translationscoevalwithmoulds TranslationsbyCampanaorLuchi Archetype

PietàbyMassimiliano SoldaniBenzi

Composition 54 Notavailable PietàatNationalStockholmMuseum 1fromCampanaCampaign

1fromLuchiCampaign

BronzePietàinSeattle PietàofCorsiniCollectioninFlorence

PietàatLosAngelesCountyMuseum WaxcastatDocciaMuseum WaxcastatPittiPalace Venusde’Medici

(fullsize)

Singleﬁgure Notyetfound Plaster 1porcelainwithvariantsthanthe

archetypeatDocciaMuseum

MarbleVenus(Id.C.)at UfﬁziGallery Venusde’Medici

(smallsize)

Singleﬁgure 6 Plaster 1well-knownporcelainatDoccia

Museum

1fromLuchiCampaign MarbleVenus(Id.C.)at

UfﬁziGallery 1fromCampanaCampaign

GiantNo₁ _Series ₄ _Terracotta ₁_from_Campana_Campaign _–

GiantNo₂ ₄_not_yet_found _Terracotta ₁_from_Campana_Campaign _–

GiantNo₃ ₅_not_yet_found _Terracotta ₁_from_Campana_Campaign _–

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no yes no yes Model search on historical inventories Research of the model in the Museum collection yes no Data collection Virtual model production QR code and RFID on moulds Model research based on other information (this can vary from one model to another)

Historic-artistic survey

Entry of data & relationships in

the DB Are moulds accessible? Search reschedule Campana Campaign Luchi Campaign

A

yes no no yes Is it possible to determine a model/archetype? Raw scanning of one /some moulds Is the virtual model needed? Refined scanning of moulds QR code and RFID on moulds Data collection Historical-artistic survey

Entry of data & relationships in

the DB .

B

Group of moulds not

used in Luchi Campaign or Campana Campaign Does an item

exist?

Can you find the model?

Fig.2. Flowchartsoftheﬁrst(A)andthesecond(B)classiﬁcationapproaches.

3Dscanningofmouldsandsubsequentprocessingcanproducea virtualmodel(asillustratedinSection4.1.1).Thistypeof classiﬁ-cationwasappliedtothemouldscalledGiantandidentiﬁedwith thenumbers2,3and4.

Fig.2Billustratesthesecondworkﬂow,whichwasappliedtothe setofmouldsentitledGiantN.1locatedattheDocciaMuseum.In thiscasenoinformationwasavailableabouttheset:3Dscanning, virtualrecoveryandrelatedDDAsysteminsertionswerecarried outonthemoulds.Thehiddensubjectinsidewasrevealedinthis wayandasurveywasconductedinthearchivesforgathering infor-mationaboutitanditsorigin.

Intheflowdiagrams,differentcolorsindicateactionsthatcan becarriedoutatdifferenttimes:blueboxesforprevioustasksand brownishboxesforstepsthatmayberescheduled.Theworkplan isthusflexibleandefficient.

Auniquecodingoftheentirecollectionwasconceived,likethe oneillustratedinSection4.2.Inthelaststepofbothprocesses,a

codeisassignedtoeachmouldandattachedusingtoolsof mod-ernautomaticidentificationtechniques,suchasQRcode[14]and Radio-FrequencyIDentification(RFID)typeidentifiers[15].

AQRcodeisatwodimensionalpicturethatcanencode infor-mationlikenumbers,letters,characters.Alabelwiththeimageofa QRcode,containingtheidentiﬁerofthemouldandotherpossible informationcanbeappliedtoitinanon-invasiveway(forexample byﬁxingthelabeltothebindertwine).A“Smartphone”,equipped withfreeapplicationsforreadingtheQRcode,wouldmakeit possi-bletorecognizethedifferentmouldsofthegroupandconsequently distinguishtheirvariouspartswithoutneedingtovisuallyexplore theirinteriors.

Tosupplementwhatwehavesuggestedabove,theidentiﬁerof asetofpiece-mouldsmightcoincidewiththatofapassiveRFID. Thisisanautomaticidentiﬁcationmethod,relyingonstoringand remotelyretrievingdatausingdevicescalledRFIDtagsor transpon-ders.Apassivetagisaverylowcostdevice,whichutilizesradio

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frequencywavesandisapplicabletothelargestmouldofaset forthepurposeoflocationandidentiﬁcation.Itwouldrespondto theactivationofa reader,afewmetersaway,returning theID. Thisidentiﬁcationsystemmightfacilitatethedetectionofasetof mouldsinsidethe“Voltone”.

4.1.1. VirtualModelProduction

3Dscanning technologyhas madethe digitizationof physi-calobjectsincollectionspossibleandatthistime,someprojects areinprogressinthiscontext,forexampleTheDigitalSculpture Project[16]ofVirginiaUniversity,The3DScanningProject[17]of thePeabodyMuseumofArchaeologyandEthnologyandtheproject oftheSmithsonianInstitution[18].

Theseprojectsexploitthepotentialofthistechnologyinorder tosystematicallyobtaindigitalmodelswhichcanbestudiedand madeavailableonthewebtoallthosewhomaybeinterested.The projectwhichisdescribedinthisarticle,ontheotherhand,aims atcatalogingthecollectionofmouldsbyutilizing,whennecessary, a3Dscanoftheinternalsurfaces,thecreationofavirtualmodel fromtheobtainednegativeshapeandtheconsequentrecognition ofthearchetype.

Inthissection,wewillbrieflydescribetheprocessforproducing thevirtualmodel.Mouldscanningwasperformedonagroupcalled GiantN.1bymeansofadetectionsystemwithactivesensorsthat usethetriangulationprinciple.Theequipmentmadeitpossible tocreatecolorizeddigitalmodels(withdiffusedlightcolor tex-ture)capableofdescribing,pointbypoint,allformalfeaturesofthe object,includingdetails(muscles,decorationsandsmallreliefs), whicharecrucialtothefinalreconstructionofthemodelinfull relief.Thescanning,performedoneachmould,involvedthe inter-naland thecontactsurfacesbetweentheindividualpiecesthat makeupthemould,inordertogetenoughinformationto prop-erlyalignthepieces.Insomecasesthescanningofthemould’s outerpartswasnecessaryinordertoimprovetheautomatic con-vergenceoftherangemapsintheregistrationphase.Moreover,in ordertopromotealignment,somescansaimedatmutually posi-tioningthedifferentpieceswereneeded(Fig.3,fromAtoF).These framingscanshaveensuredcorrectalignmentusingICPautomatic algorithms.Thedetailedsurveyofthecontactsurfacesbetween thepiecesmadeitpossibletoobtainaperfectconvergenceofthe mouldparts(Fig.3,fromGtoI).Recordingoperationsproduced thecompletedigitalmodelofthemould’sinternalandcontact sur-faces.Oncetheexcesssurfaceswereeliminated,thedigitalmodel intheroundofthemouldpositivewasobtained,howeverthefeed throatswerestillpresent.Thefinalremovaloftheselatter con-cludedtheoptimizationofthemodel(Fig.3,fromLtoN)andmade itpossibletomoveontothenextphaseofthereconstructionofthe shape.Thisdigitalreconstructionwasperformeddirectlyin3Dby importingalldigitalmodelsderivedfromtheprocessingscansof allmoulds.Inthisphase,thecontactsurfaces(betweenarmsand torso,legsandtorsoandbetweenheadandtorso)andtheformal featuresanddetailsofeachcomponentpiece,madeitpossibleto proposeafinalreconstructionhypothesis.Comparisontothe orig-inalderivationmodel,a terracottastatuette,confirmedthatthe virtualreconstructionguaranteesanoptimumrecovery.

4.2. Tools:DDAsystem

TheDDAsystemismadeupof twodifferentcomponents: a persistencelayerandapresentationlayer.Thepersistencelayer consistsofarelationalDB.Theotherlayerisarrangedasa PHP-basedwebapplicationanditsmainfunctionsareDBinteraction anddatapresentation.

A diagram of the DB structure is illustrated in Fig. 4, in an ExtendedEntity-RelationshipModel[19],createdusingtheMySQL

WorkbenchORACLEsoftware(version5.2.42CE).TheDBis orga-nizedinto13linkedtablesaccordingtothetypeofcontentdata.

Thebasictableisthe“model”table,whichreferstothe phys-icalmodel,ifitispresent attheDocciaMuseum,and/ortothe virtualone,ifthe3Dacquisitionmethodologywasapplied.The onlyrequiredﬁeldinthetableistherecordID,whichactivatesthe database’sreferentialintegrity.Mouldclassiﬁcationisthuspossible evenifnoderivationmodelisavailable.

Inthe“model”table,informationrelatingtotheproducttype isincluded; a completedescriptionof this informationis given inTable3.Amodelrecordcanbelinkedtoasmanyrecordsin the“mould”tableasthecomponentmouldsinthe correspond-inggroupiftheyareconsidered.Theﬁeldsincludedinthe“mould” tablearelistedanddescribedinTable4.Thereisoneforinscriptions onmouldsamongtheplannedﬁelds.

Ifamouldtransitionoccurredfromonemodeltoanother,the “transition”tablecantracktherelationbetweentheoriginalgroup ofmouldsandthehybridone.

The“catalogue”tablewasdesigned tomanagedifferent his-toricalinventorynumbersthatrefertothesetofmouldsorthe model.

The“ﬁleraw”and“ThreeD”tablescanrespectivelygatherﬁles obtainedfromthe3Dlaserscanningofthedifferentmouldsetsand thereconstructiondataofthewholevirtualmodelorpartofit.

Ifone ormore porcelain translationsof a certainmodel are known, they are classiﬁed as records in the “porcelain” table (Table5).

Ifaseriesofmodelsisconsidered,thedifferentstatuettesare classiﬁed as different recordsof the “model” tablebut related toeachotherbythesamereferenceinthe“series”table,which containsinformationabouttheentiresetofsamples.Evenwhen porcelaintranslationsbelongtothesameseries,differentrecordsof the“porcelain”tablearerelatedtoeachotherbymeansofthesame reference,besidesthoseofcorrespondingmodelsinthe“series” table.

Castscreatedinmaterialsdifferentfromporcelainarerecorded inthe“cast”tablewiththecorrespondingmodelreference.

In the “images” table, the following types of pictures are storable:

• scannedrawimages;

• 2Dand3Dimagesofthevirtualmodel;

• photographsof:moulds,setsofmoulds,models,porcelain trans-lations,casts,series,archetypes,inventions.

Datareferringtotheauthorarelistedinthe“author”tableif he/sheisknown,butanassumedhistoricalperiodisspeciﬁedin anycase,eveniftheauthorisunknown.Ifthemouldgroupwas producedforabronzestatue/compositionorifitwasobtainedfrom amarblesculpture,andifthearchetypeisknown,theinformation canbedocumentedinthe“archetype”table.

Theinformationaboutthepresumedsourceofinspirationfor themodelcan beinsertedin the“invention”table, which then explainsifsubjectsarederivedfromclassicalsculptureorpainting. Inthe“model”,“mould”,“porcelain”and“series”tables,there isan“xxxcode”ﬁeld,whereanidentiﬁerisstorable.Thedesigned assignmentpolicyisstructuredasfollows:

• models:modNNNN; • moulds:modNNNNmouNN; • seriesofmodels:sermodNNN; • seriesofporcelain:serporNNN; • porcelainworks:porNNNNN; whereNisanintegerfrom0to9.

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Fig.3.Theﬁrstsequenceofimagesshowstheacquisitionprocedureadoptedtofacilitatethealignmentoftheindividualpiecesbelongingtothemouldofthelegs.A–C:

classiﬁcationscansaimedatidentifyingthepositionofthepieces.D,E:processingthemodelcomposedofthedifferentpiecesalignedwitheachother.F:shapepositive

obtainedthroughthecompositionofthe4pieces.ThenextsequenceofimagesshowsthealignmentandregistrationofthesetGwiththelastpieceH,bymatchingthe

contactsurfaces.PictureIhighlightsthemagnitudeofstandarddeviationbetweenthetwoparts.Thelastsequenceshowsdataaimedatobtainingthemodelintheroundof

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Fig.4. DBstructureforclassifyingthehistoriccollectionoftheDocciaManufactorywhichillustratesrelationships(foreignkeys)among13tablesandrecordsof“model”

table.

Fig.5.Modelcard,mouldcardandvirtualmodelpictureoftheGiantN.1.

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Table3

DBtable“model”.

Tablerecord Type Signiﬁcance

modid int(11) Identiﬁcativekeyofthemodel

mod ﬁguretype set(‘scultura

ﬁgura-tiva’,‘suppellettile’,‘bassorilievo’,‘litofania’)

Modeltypology

modtitle varchar(100) Modeltitle

modyear varchar(45) Modeldating

modperiod set(‘1700–1750’,‘1750–1800’,‘1800–1850’,

‘1850–1900’,‘1900–1950’)

Timeperiod(es.ﬁftyyears)

mod author ref int(11) Identiﬁcativekeyofmodelauthor(=autid)

mod authorknowledge bit(1) Itindicatesiftheauthor’sattributioniscertain

modauthorworkshop set(‘autore’,‘bottega’) Itindicatesiftheattributionistotheauthororhisworkshop

moddimensions varchar(200) Modeldimensions

modnumbofmoulds int(11) Numberofmouldsofthegroupforthismodel

modnotes varchar(200) Shortannotationsaboutthemodel

mod material set(‘cera’,‘terracotta’,‘gesso’,‘maiolica’) Modelmaterial

modavailability set(‘sì’,‘no’) ExistenceofthemodelinDocciaMuseum

modexecution bit(1) ItindicatesifthemodelwasexecutedwithintheManufactoryorif

itwasacquired

mod origin varchar(100) Itspeciﬁestheoriginofthemodelifitwasacquired

modmouldauthor varchar(200) Moulder

modseriesref int(11) Identiﬁcativekeyofmodelseries(=serid),ifmodtype=’series’

modcode varchar(8) IdentiﬁcativecodeofmodelasmodNNNN,whereNisaninteger

from0to9

mod composition ref int(11) Identiﬁcativekeyofthemodel(=modid),ifcomposition

(modtype=’composition’)

mod type set(‘single’,‘series’,‘composition’) Typologyofthesubjectmodel

modmanufacture set(‘calcato’,‘modellato’) Itindicatesthemethodusedformouldrealization

modhousing varchar(200) Modellocation

modinventorymuseum int(11) InventorynumberofmodelatDocciaMuseum

modmodelref int(11) Identiﬁcativekeyofthemodel(=modid)fromwhichthismodel

derives

modarchetyperef int(11) Identiﬁcativekeyofthemodel’sarchetype(=arcid)

Table4

DBtable“mould”.

mouid int(11) Identiﬁcativekeyofthemould

moutype varchar(200) contentofthemould(es.Braccia,gambe,piede,testa,base,manico,etc.)

moupieces int(11) numberofpiecesofthemould(tasselli)

mou inscriptions varchar(200) listofinscriptionsonthemould

moumodelref int(11) Identiﬁcativekeyofthecorrispondingmodeltowhichthemouldbelongs

moucode varchar(16) IdentiﬁcativecodeofthemouldasmodNNNNmouNN,whereNisan

integerfrom0to9

moutransitionref int(11) Identiﬁcativekeyofatransitionofthemould(=traid)

mouyear varchar(45) Realizationdateofthemould.Onemouldcanhaveadifferentdatefrom

theothersbelongingtothesamegroup

mounotes varchar(200) Shortannotationsaboutmould

moucondition varchar(200) Shortannotationsaboutmouldcondition

mouinventorymuseum int(11) InventorynumberofmouldatDocciaMuseum

moucollocation varchar(200) Indicationofthehousingsite

Table5

DBtable“porcelain”.

porid int(11) Identiﬁcativekeyofaporcelain

poryear varchar(45) Dateorperiodofporcelaincasting

porauthor varchar(45) Executornameofporcelaincasting

portitle varchar(100) Titleoftheporcelainsample

pordimensions varchar(45) Porcelaindimensions

pornotes varchar(200) Shortannotationsaboutporcelainsample

pormaterial set(‘biscuit’,‘invetriata’) Typeofporcelainrealization

por type set(‘single’,‘series’,‘composition’) Typologyoftheporcelainsubject:singlepiece,pieceofa

series,compositionmadeupoftwoormoreparts/shapes

poravailability set(‘sì’,‘no’) PorcelainavailabilityatDocciaMuseum

porhousing varchar(200) Porcelainlocation

porinv int(11) InventorynumberofporcelainatDocciaMuseum

porcode varchar(8) IdentiﬁcativecodeofmodelasmodNNNN,whereNisan

integerfrom0to9

pormodelref int(11) Identiﬁcativekeyofthecorrispondingmodel(=modid)

porseriesref int(11) Identiﬁcativekeyofthecorrispondingseries(=serid)

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488 M.Gherardellietal./JournalofCulturalHeritage15(2014)479–489 Thisencoding isa suggestionfor a uniquecataloging ofthe

collectionandthususingthemodernautomaticidentiﬁcation tech-nologydescribedabove,whichisparticularlyusefulwhenthereare manysampleslocatedindifferentplaces,asinthiscase.

5. Dataextraction

ADBprototypewassetupinMySQL5.2environmentwhere thedataandimageswereincluded.Informationandrelationships betweendifferentsamplescanbeaccessedfromdocumentation cards,whicharetheresultofqueriestotheDB.Thetypesofcards providedare:

• amodelcard,whichgathersinformationanddataavailableabout amodel(physicaland/orvirtual)anditsmouldsandporcelain statuetteswhentheyexist;

• amouldcard,whichgathersinformation,imagesanddataabout scannedmouldsinaset;

• aseriescard,whichsummarizestheavailableimagesofsamples fromaseries.

Details and relationships describing an artistic subject are reportedonitsmodelcard,whichisdividedintothreesections, asshownintheupperpartofFig.5:the“model”sectionisinthe center,the“porcelain”sectiononrightandthe“moulds”section ontheleft.

Themodelphotograph,ifavailable,isshownintheupperpartof themodelsection.Byclicking,itispossibletoviewamoredetailed analysisoftheobjectforthepurposeofseeingtheﬂaws,thestate ofconservationortoconsidertherestorationworktobecarried out.Thevirtualmodelimageisshownwhenthephysicalmodel photographisnotavailable.Inanycase,alinkforvisualizingthe virtualmodelcanbeselected.Theintegratedinterfaceallowsthe usertovisualize3Dimagesofthesubject,whichcanberotated. Informationsuchasauthor,size,etc.,isprovidedunderthe pic-ture.

Inthe“moulds”section,dataaboutthegroupofmouldsare listedandaphotographofthelargestmouldorofthemouldset isshown.Once3Dlaserscanninghasbeenconductedontheset, adetaileddescriptionofthedifferentmouldswillbeaccessibleby selectingalinktothemouldcard(bottomleftcornerofFig.5).

Inthe“porcelain”section,theﬁrstavailablepictureamong pos-sibledifferentphotos ofporcelain artifactsis shown atthetop ofthearea.Previewsoftheotherporcelaintranslationsare dis-playedbelow.Anyoneofthemcanbeselectedandsubstitutedfor thelargerphotoandsomeinformationaboutthecorresponding porcelainworkisunderthisimage.

Alinknamed“Altretraduzioni”(othertranslations)mayappear atthebottomofthissectionifcastsmadewithmaterialsotherthan porcelainareknown.

Iftheartisticsubjectbeingconsideredispartofaseries,asinthe caseofGiantN.1,anindicationabouttheseriestowhichitbelongs andalinktotheseriescardappear.

Fig.6.SeriescardoftheGiantmodelsinterracotta(top)andseriescardoftheGiantunglazedporcelainstatuettes,calledbiscuits,fromCampanaCampaign(bottom).

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TheupperpartofFig.6showstheseriescardoftheGiantsin terracotta.Itincludesonlythreeoftheoriginalfourmodelsbecause theGiantN.4samplewasneverfound.Intheporcelainsectionof themodelcardalinkgivesaccesstotheseriescardoftheporcelain statuettes(lowerpartofFig.6).

6. Conclusions

Wehavepresentedaclassiﬁcationprocedureforthenumerous piece-mouldsbelongingtothevaluablecollectionoftheDoccia Manufactory.Thismethodologyappliesinformationand3D tech-nologiestothecontextofdocumentationoftheDocciaCollection, butitcanbereplicatedinothercontexts.

Forexample,thismethodologyandtheDDAsystemcouldbe appliedinsimilarsituationsthatdonothaveanalogousinventory systems,liketheMeissenfactoryinDresden[20]andtheSèvres factoryinParis[21],bothofwhichwerefoundedinthe18th cen-tury,andinarchivesthatcontainrecordsoftheactivitiesofother ceramicfactoriesliketheArchivioCeramicoSestese.

Thiscatalogingmethodmightbeofinterestalsoforactivities notstrictlyrelatedtothemanufactureofceramics,asinthecase ofthesculptureskeptintheStudioGalleriaRomanelliwhichwas foundedinFlorenceabout200yearsagoandbeganwiththeworks ofLorenzoBartolini[22].

TheDDAsystemallowsuserstobeneﬁtfromthehugeamount of informationobtainedfrom differentsources byapplyingthe methodology.Thissystemisdesignedforaccessbythepersonnel ofthe DocciaMuseum andof theManufactory, togeta physi-cal/virtualandarthistoricaldescriptionofthemouldsandartifacts relatedtothem.

Scholarsof ceramics and sculpturefrom theseventeenth to thenineteenthcenturywillbegreatlyinterestedtohaveaccess to this information. Furthermore, the restorers of Ginori prod-ucts, and of sculptures and bronzes will be among the major usersoftheDDAcontent.Thissystemcouldalsobecomea use-ful toolfor thepresent GRG factory(ex-Richard-Ginorifactory) [23],whichiseagertoproduceartifactsthatarerecoveredfrom shapesinthehistoricalarchives.Downloadedarthistorical infor-mationcouldalsobeusedfora presentationtoaccompanythe artifacts.

Thetechniqueof3D scanningandsubsequentvirtual recon-structionhasthefollowingadvantagescomparedtotheporcelain casting:

• itislessexpensiveandhasfasterimplementation,inregime; • lessspaceisoccupiedbytheproductsoftheclassiﬁcation; • itfostersthepreservationofmoulds.

Virtualmodelswouldhelpthefactorymodelerstoproducenew mouldswiththesamesubjectastheantiqueones.Consequently, thehistoricalmouldswouldnotbedirectlyinvolvedinaproduction processwhichcouldcompromisetheirstateofconservation.

Many potential developments may come as a result of the applicationofthemethodologydescribedherewhichissupported bytheuseoftheDDAsystem,forexample,theinformationused

toclassifythemodelsofthecollectionmayalsobestructuredina speciﬁcXMLﬁlesuitableforontologyresearch.

Acknowledgments

TheauthorswouldliketoexpresstheirthankstoDr.Oliva Rucel-lai,curatoroftheDocciaMuseum,andtothe“AmicidiDoccia” Association.

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