Important collaboration agreement signed between Opificio delle Pietre Dure and Museo Ginori

An important collaboration agreement was signed on November 30, 2021, by the Fondazione Museo Archivio Richard Ginori della Manifattura di Doccia and theOpificio delle Pietre Dure in Florence: the agreement formally launches the collaboration between the two prestigious institutions aimed at promoting and developing common activities of research, training, dissemination and mutual transfer of knowledge, especially in the field of conservation of ceramic and plastic materials and paper materials. The ambitious goal made explicit in the text of the agreement is to “constitute a ’pole’ of reference and advice for all the realities operating on the regional and national territory that are faced with the issue of conservation and restoration of ceramic, plaster and wax works.”

The two historic Tuscan institutions boast common origins and traditions for having originated as manufactures: the Opificio delle Pietre Dure, founded in 1588 by Ferdinando I de’ Medici as a court manufactory specializing in working semi-precious stones, the Ginori manufactory founded by Carlo Andrea Ginori in 1737 as a porcelain factory. They have since evolved and transformed over time, adapting to historical changes and accumulating an invaluable store of technical, artistic and scientific expertise, which they now make available to each other.

The Ginori Museum, formerly a company museum owned by Richard-Ginori, and its collections, including the archives and historical library, notified as a complex of exceptional historical and artistic interest, following the company’s bankruptcy in 2013 were acquired by the state in 2017 and entrusted on a transitional basis to the Regional Museums Directorate of Tuscany until, as the restoration work on the museum complex progresses, the handover to the Foundation, which is destined to manage the museum’s extraordinary heritage, is finalized. The Ginori Foundation’s objective is to conserve, catalog, order, display and enhance the cultural heritage of the Manifattura di Doccia acquired by the State.

The Opificio delle Pietre Dure in Florence is now an institute of the Ministry of Culture with special autonomy, which carries out operational, research and training activities in the field of conservation and restoration and is divided into 11 different restoration sectors, a scientific laboratory and two transversal consulting services. Also operating at the Opificio is the School of Higher Education and Study (SAFS), which grants a diploma equivalent to the Master’s Degree in Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage. The agreement entered into with the Ginori Foundation will specifically involve the Ceramic and Plastic Materials and Paper and Membranous Materials restoration sectors to offer support in the conservation of the Museum, Library and Ginori Archives holdings. SAFS and the Opificio’s scientific laboratory will also be involved for training and research activities.

In addition to the various activities aimed at the recovery and planning for the long-term conservation of the Ginori Museum’s permanent collection, the agreement calls for the establishment of a stable restoration laboratory at the Ginori Foundation with the Opificio’s consultancy; the initiation of joint study, investigation and research activities on the conservation of individual works or particular categories of assets; and collaboration on professional development and educational activities, with the direct involvement of faculty and students from SAFS. The hoped-for collaboration between the Ginori Foundation and the Opificio delle Pietre Dure that takes off from this agreement is born on firm assumptions and, according to the two institutes, will certainly produce excellent results, destined to further enhance the territory of the Florentine area.

Pictured: the Ginori Museum

Important collaboration agreement signed between Opificio delle Pietre Dure and Museo Ginori

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