A Masterly Hand / Scientia Artis 9

169 Pascale Fraiture 8 168 partial preservation of sapwood, generally visible on the figures’ elbows, where the sculpture’s width is maximal, as if the sculptor had miscalculated his ­ project or the sapwood was thicker than first thought (fig. 8.11). Unfortunately, very few sculptures preserve sapwood in their narrower base. In most sculptures where sapwood is preserved on the figures’ elbows (St Agnes, St Catherine, St Lucy and the Virgin and Child in Siersdorf, Judas Thaddeus (?) and Christ the Saviour in Utrecht), these remains are unsuitable for specifying the felling date because they are too far from the ring series on the base to be linked to these. In two apostles from Ellikom, however, sapwood was preserved very close to the base (fig. 8. 12), 24 al lowing felling to be situated between 1511 and 1 536. 25 An exception is the St Matthew (?) of Utrecht, which includes at least seventeen sapwood rings on its base (fig. 8.4d). Felling could thus be situated between 1507 and 15 24. 26 Although this remaining sapwood, found on several sculptures in differ- ent places, is not all usable it nonetheless provides key information, as it indicates that the wood was exploited to the full, with only the absolute minimum being removed and even then not always entirely. This idea is further supported by the aforementioned observation that the shape of the trunk was retained in the contour of the carved figure, to achieve which, only the minimum amount of wood was removed. From a dendrochrono- logical viewpoint, this economical use of the wood indicates that the loss of rings may well be minimal, especially in the case of large works or sculptures of a particular shape. That this cannot be assumed to be the rule, however, is demonstrated by the Christ the Saviour of Neeroeteren and John the ­ Baptist in Siersdorf. Both come from the same tree; their most recent rings should thus coincide. Yet the Christ has nearly forty rings fewer on the outer side of the trunk than John (fig. 8.8c). The two ranges of felling date derived from the presence of sapwood – 1511-1536 and 1507-1524 – show that even in this propitious situation such an estimation remains relatively broad, as sapwood can vary greatly from tree to tree. Indeed, sapwood width depends on several ill-defined parameters such as age, growth rate, height of the chunk in the stem, crown width, site conditions, and so on. 27 In the Elsloo group, the number of sapwood rings ranges from four to thirty-f our, 28 th e statistics used depending on the provenance of the wood (see below). Every oak has a minimum number of sapwood rings. For sculptures with- out sapwood, this minimum can be systematically added to the last ring meas- ured to slightly advance the result to the felling date (see table in appendix ). 29 This result remains a terminus post quem , however, because the amount of heartwood lost, even if minor, is still unknown. It should also be pointed out that felling could have taken place much later than the dates given: ten, twenty or even forty years later if the tree contained the maximum number of sap- wood rings – for example thirty-four – and lost a few heartwood rings. In the case of those Ellikom apostles without sapwood, for example, this could explain the differences between the termini post quem obtained for the majority, the statues ranging from 1500 to 1511, and the earlier dates for two of them, 1473 ( Peter) and 1490 (Bartholomew). Fig. 8.12 Apostle, Ellikom, Church of St Harlindis and St Relindis, sapwood preserved on the back close to the base a Back b Base 8.12 a 8.12 b