Proceedings e report - Firenze University Press

WOOD SCIENCE FOR CONSERVATION OF CULTURAL HERITAGE
century was most probably as can be found today. [2] Buskett, considered as woodland, has a dense
population of oak, pine, olive, ash and carob trees which regenerate naturally.
Luqa, a local town, was named so due to the presence of the considerable number of poplar trees
referred to in Maltese as “luq”. Forests of evergreen oaks (Querqus ilex) must have been common in
Malta. [6] The valley of St Julians, known as Balluta, meaning oak in Maltese, must have been highly
populated with local oak. [7]
Several archives indicate that wood was imported. Although the probability is small, it is not known
whether wood from indigenous and locally cultivated trees was used for furniture construction. Olive
wood has been used for the construction of whole pieces of furniture, the wood or furniture having
possibly been imported. Olea europea L. (olive) and Ceratonia siliqua (carob) wood, both indigenous,
were used for local marquetry works. Wood from local fruit trees like ‘orange’ and ‘lemon’ was also
used for such decoration.
Bonello points out that Pinus sp. (pine), Quercus sp. (oak) and Fraxinus sp. (ash) were types of
woods used for local furniture construction during the time of the Knights.[8] One needs to note that
Pinus halepensis (Jerusalem pine), Quercus ilex (holly oak) and Fraxinus angustifolia (narrowed
leaved ash) are all Maltese indigenous trees. As a result, one should not exclude a priori the possibility
that local trees might have been used occasionally for local consumption. To this date the author,
while carrying out wood analysis, has never found evidence of any indigenous woods in any furniture,
panel paintings or canvas stretcher frames.
Further deforestation must have taken place during the First World War for firewood and also when
the Luqa airfield was constructed. [4] Few areas of local oak remained, mainly in Wardija. [5] Some
of these trees are believed to be 500 to 900 years old.
Fig. 10 – Sacristy of the Parish Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mosta (left), The sacristy
of the Conventual Church of St John’s, Valletta (centre) and sacristy of the Parish Church of St Paul’s
Shipwreck, Valletta (right)
2.2. Wood analysis carried out on the sacristies
Stained furniture renders macroscopic identification of coniferous wood more difficult and therefore
microscopic identification is invaluable. Galea-Naudi states that red deal was mentioned to have been
used throughout the dark stained vestry at St John’s Conventual Church, Valletta [11] (Fig.1).
Scientific investigations carried out by the author indicate that at least three types of wood were used
in this furniture. The upper sculptural elements are made of Pinus sp. (likely to be sylvestris), while
the larger part of the pieces of furniture were constructed from a combination of Larix decidua (larch)
and Picea sp (spruce).
In this study 110 wood analyses were carried out. Six of these tests were performed on indigenous
trees for comparative reasons. In some parts of furniture, when possible, two samples were taken from
different locations for verification purposes. In some cases, like St Philip’s Sacristy in Żebbuġ, it was
found that two types of wood were used in some door constructions (Fig. 2). Fig. 3 shows the list of
results obtained. In those cases where more than one sample was taken from the same furniture piece,
only one result was reported.
The results show that Picea sp. (spruce) and Larix decidua (larch) were by far the most commonly
used for sacristy furniture throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth century. In cases where the results
indicate the possibility of both Picea sp. and Larix decidua, it means that the wood was
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