X-ray Computed Tomography Analysis of Historical Woodwind Instruments of the Late Eighteenth Century

Abstract

In this work, two historical flutes of the late eighteenth century were analysed by means of X-ray computed tomography (CT). The first one is a piccolo flute whose manufacturer is unknown, though some features could suggest an English or American origin. The second musical instrument is a baroque transverse flute, probably produced by Lorenzo Cerino, an Italian instrument maker active in Turin (Italy) in the late eighteenth century. Analyses carried out provided information on manufacturing techniques, materials and conservation state, and are suitable to plan restoration intervention. In particular, through the CT images, it was possible to observe the presence of defects, cracks, fractures and previous restorations, as well as indications of the tools used in the making of the instruments. Particular attention was directed towards extracting metrological information about the objects. In fact, this work is the first step of a study with a final aim of determining an operative protocol to enable the making of precise-sounding copies of ancient instruments starting from CT images, that can be used to plan a virtual restoration, consisting in the creation of digitally restored copies with a 3D printer.

Glass beads from a Scythian grave on the island of Khortytsia (Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine): insights into bead making through 3D imaging

“…The tomographic system for data acquisition has been developed by the Physics Department of the University of Torino and the INFN (Italian National Institute for Nuclear Physics) and is described elsewhere [48]. Its main components are a Hamamatsu (Hamamatsu City, Japan) Microfocus L8121-03 X-ray source, a Newport (Irvine, California, USA) URS150BPP rotation stage and a Shad-o-Box 6 K HS Flat Panel detector from Teledyne Dalsa (Waterloo, Ontario, Canada).…”

“…CT scan has been utilized in archaeology mainly to examine mummies and skeletal remains [38][39][40] and for the non-invasive inspection of blocks of soils embedding fragile archaeological relics [41]. In addition, CT scan can support the archaeological research for a wide variety of materials and archaeological objects: some of them are very usual and widespread, such as ceramic and clay for pottery and clay tablets [42,43], metal for coins, weapons and tools [44,45], wood for coffins, boats and musical instruments [46][47][48] while others are rarer and less common, such as shell beads [49] and birch bark tar [50]. CT is undergoing continuous technological improvements and refinements in data analysis, focusing in particular on portability [51,52], adaptation to specific materials or shape requirements [53][54][55] and optimization of reconstruction and segmentation methods [56,57].…”