_applied sciences_  
_Article_  
**The Importance of Being Versatile: INFN-CHNet MA-XRF**  
**Scanner on Furniture at the CCR \"La Venaria Reale\"**  
**[PERSON] 1,2, [PERSON] 1,2**,**, [PERSON] 3,4, [PERSON] 3,4, [PERSON] 4,  
**[PERSON] 4, [PERSON] 3,4**  
heritage science field, and a number of research groups have been developing customized instruments to improve the quality of data obtainable with this technique [6; 7; 8; 9].  
The MA-XRF technique may be provided by portable instruments or by large-scale facilities like synchrotrons [10; 11; 12]. Despite their higher performances in terms of output beam parameters (higher intensity, smaller spot size), synchrotron facilities have the limitation of needing the artifacts to be transported to the laboratory, which is not always feasible.  
Among others, the Cultural Heritage Network of the National Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN-CHNet) [13; 14; 15] is engaged in the development of instruments, methods and techniques for applications in the heritage science field [16; 17; 18; 19]. With this intent, the INFN-CHNet collaboration has developed its own MA-XRF scanner. The main characteristics of this device are its compactness, light weight, user-friendly interface, and versatility as described in the next section. It has already been employed for a number of different applications, including paintings [20; 21; 22], illuminated manuscripts [23], coins [24], mosaics [25] and ceramics [24].  
The INFN-CHNet MA-XRF scanner has recently been employed on furniture. This further application is particularly interesting since, at the present time, the literature on XRF analysis on furniture is still poor [26; 27; 28], and no cases of MA-XRF analysis on furniture have been reported.  
In this paper, the application of the INFN-CHNet MA-XRF scanner on two different pieces of furniture of the 18 th century is presented. One is a chinoiserie wooden cabinet placed at the _Castello e Parco di Masino_, property of the _Fondo Ambiente Italiano_ (FAI) in Piedmont. The other is a writing desk _Scrivania con scansia_ by [PERSON], placed in the _Palazzo Chiables_ in Turin, Piedmont.  
Both works of art have been studied in a specific framework at the Centro di Conservazione e Restauro (CCR) \"La Venaria Reale\". The lacquered cabinet was part of the research project \"_Un ponte tra l'Oriente e il Piemonte_\", a comparative study between lacquered oriental works of art of the 18 th and 19 th centuries, and their contemporary Western imitations. The main focus of the study was to determine the manufacturing techniques and materials employed in order to determine the elements required to date the manufactures and to distinguish between \"original\" oriental works of art and their Western replicas [29]. The study of the writing desk _Scrivania con scansia_ by [PERSON] from the _Palazzo Chiables_ has been realised within the research project on [PERSON] carried out by the CCR [30; 31]. This ongoing project is aimed at studying works of art by [PERSON] and the Piedmontese cabinetmakers of the second half of the 18 th century.  
Thanks to the versatility of the INFN-CHNet MA-XRF scanner, it has been possible to study the decorative layers of the furniture, thus supporting their conservation processes and providing fundamental information to the research projects in which they are involved. The present work demonstrates the potentialities of the systematic use of a customized MA-XRF technique as a first approach to scientific studies on furniture.