Material investigation on three special paper molds from Magnani's museum collections

In the present work a non-invasive technological study on three molds from Magnani's mills in Pescia (Pistoia, Italy) was carried out. The three molds investigated have been those for making: 1) the invitation letters to the marriage between Napoleon and Maria Luisa of Austria in 1810; 2) the paper sheets used by Pablo Picasso in 1917 for the drawings of the Russian Ballets currently preserved in the Picasso Museum in Paris; 3) the holy manuscript Bhagavata Purana realized in India in 1840 and currently preserved in the "Museum of Art" of San Diego. The chemical composition of the metal alloy components were investigated and compared using Laser Induced Plasma Spectroscopy (LIPS), electron microscopy (ESEM-EDX) and Ion Beam Analysis (IBA) while shape and size comparisons were carried out by means of a homemade 3D digital microscopy device. Metallographic characterizations were also carried out on some very small samples. This allowed pointing out the different crafting features of the three molds. The results achieved and represent the first step towards an overall characterization, which will be carried out on Magnani's mold collections.