A 17th-Century Noble Charter — Faithfully Reproduced, Twice
The nobility certificate: a 17th-century copy of an original document from the early 16th century.
Handwritten and hand-painted, it has been in the family for generations.
The problem: the original is too large to hang — and there are two daughters who will one day wish to inherit it. A single document cannot be divided.
The brief was clear: a faithful reproduction scaled down to a hangable format, executed once and a faksimile reproduction, executed twice..
What the reproduction had to achieve in this case
Historical documents place particular demands on reproduction work. Paper and ink from the 16th century carry a surface quality, a colour character and a materiality that an ordinary copy cannot capture.
A historical document, two daughters, and one solution
We first digitized the document in high resolution with the CRUSE scanner – contactless, with calibrated light – and then printed it on Hahnemühle Fine Art paper. The result: one print in a reduced format and two in the original size, reproduced in true color and detail. The structure of the original remains recognizable. The document looks like a valuable one-off – because it was one, and our method of reproduction respects this.
The original stays where it belongs
The owner keeps the original. Both daughters receive a print they can hang. What sounds like a pragmatic solution is, on closer inspection, something more: the ability to make a piece of family history visible accessible without giving it up.
Both daughters receive a facsimile
What sounds like a pragmatic solution is, on closer inspection, something more precious: the ability to make a piece of family history accessible without giving it up.
That is what Fine Art Print can be good for — not decoration, but preservation.
Would you like to have a historical document, a work of art or a family heirloom reproduced?
