A Masterly Hand / Scientia Artis 9

In order to determine the geographic provenance itself, the dated ring series of the Elsloo sculptures were compared with master chronologies, which cover fairly broad geographic zones in western Eur ope. 37 Th e first map synthesises these results (fig. 8.14). There is evidence that the wood sculpted is of local origin, that is, largely the region where the Elsloo sculptures must have been produ ced. 38 To narrow down this broad provenance zone(s), site chronologies from ­ Belgium, France, Germany and the Netherlands have been u sed, 39 w hich cover as completely as possible the overall zone(s) of presumed origin. The results were mapped to visualise the sub-regions offering the strongest dendro- chronological similarities with the sculptures (fig. 8.15). The group with the seven Ellikom and three Neeroeteren apostles seems to show the strongest similarities with chronologies from the Maastricht region and with chronologies from the region downriver from Maastricht, near the Rhine-Meuse-Scheldt delta (fig. 8.15a). It must be noted that the chronologies from this latter region do not reflect a provenance from this area because they include ring series that come from imported timbers, probably from the Meuse Basin or from northern or central Germa ny. 40 N or is it possible to ensure that the ring series included in Maastricht site chronologies actually come from this region, since the nearby Meuse was an important timber transportation route at the time, so the use of imported oak – from remote private or state forests, for example – for the construction of prestigious buildings cannot be excluded . Nevertheless, the fact that no other zones (such as the Ardennes or western Fig. 8.14 Map showing the correlation between the dated ring series from the Elsloo sculptures and master chronologies from Europe (the darker the blue-shaded areas, the better the correlations) 8.14 t > 3 3 < t < 3.35 3.36 < t < 3.7 3.71 < t < 4.05 4.06 < t < 4.4 4.41 < t < 4.75 4.76 < t < 5.1 5.11 < t < 5.45 5.46 < t < 5.8 Student’s t