The little table in the centre has a top made of a petrified section of a tree trunk, mounted on a wooden support and decorated with carvings and gilding. This artefact has traditionally been attributed to Girolamo Segato (1792-1836), a cartographer, naturalist and scholar of chemistry and mineralogy. During the course of his life, Segato conducted experiments on the conservation of organic materials, many of which are still shrouded in mystery.