"An example of “dangerous” nineteenth-century restoration work at the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli (MANN)"

The National Archaeological Museum of Naples (MANN) owns one of the most important Egyptian collections in Italy. It contains around 2,500 exhibits, originally belonging to different nuclei (two major groups — the Borgia and the Picchianti collection — and some lesser groups of artifacts with various provenances) collected between the 18th and the 20th centuries. On the occasion of a complete reorganization of the collection for a new exhibition plan (inaugurated on October 7, 2016) I’ve studied the history of the collections and of their collectors through different archival documents, some unpublished materials and also the more debated ones. Interesting results have emerged mainly as regards the coffins and the mummies associated with them. During two centuries, these finds have suffered because of singular conservative operations and restorations and they have been subjected to relocation, splits and false associations to meet e exhibition criteria. Through the patient recovery of archival data, especially the unpublished catalogues of Georg Zoëga on the Borgia collection, it was possible to discover and reconstruct an interesting case of a badly-executed 19th-century restoration and identify the original decoration.