We are truly honored we contributed to the restoration of the jewels of the original stage costume of the world premiere of Puccini’s Turandot conducted by Arturo Toscanini at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan on April 25, 1926.
The story is quite curious. In fact, after the first performance of the famous work of the great Tuscan composer, the costumes of the Turandot made by the costume designer Luigi Sapelli, aka Caramba, disappeared. For decades no one knew anything about them until, in 2018, as mysteriously as they disappeared, they came to light again inside a trunk acquired by the Textile Museum of Prato. Among the treasures found inside the trunk were two costumes and two stage jewels made by Caramba for the first performance of the Turandot.
Found in a very bad state of conservation, the costumes and stage jewels have undergone important and complex conservation and restoration interventions by the Tela di Penelope Consortium on the costumes and by Elena Della Schiava, Tommaso Pestelli and Filippo Tattini on the jewels.
These are some pictures of the restoration work on Turandot jewels that we carried out in our atelier.
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- Calco in silicone dell’originale e copia in cera per fusione
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- Saldatura dei castoni sulla decorazione
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- Originale e copia prima della doratura
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- I gioielli della Turandot restaurati
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- I gioielli della Turandot restaurati
Now that the restoration of the original Turandot costume and jewels has been completed, the works will be shown in an exhibition dedicated to the genesis of the work, to Caramba’s costumes and to the staging and scenography that Puccini entrusted to his friend the painter Galileo Chini, one of the great protagonists of the Italian Liberty.
The exhibition “Turandot and the Fantastic East by Puccini, Chini and Caramba” can be visited at the “Museo del Tessuto” in Prato from 22 May to 21 November 2021.
Here you will find the link to the event:
Here instead you will find some insights on the genesis of the exhibition:
- www.frizzifrizzi.it/2021/04/06/turandot/
- www.finestresullarte.info/mostre/mostra-turandot-museo-tessuto-prato
- www.wwwitalia.eu/web/turandot-e-loriente-fantastico-di-puccini-chini-e-caramba/
- www.nove.firenze.it/turandot-e-loriente-fantastico-di-puccini-chini-caramba.htm
And here you can see a video presentation of the exhibition:
Finally, we remind you that at Pestelli Creazioni we carry out restoration operations on any type of jewel, even the oldest ones such as the wonderful original Turandot jewels.
For more information > contact us
