A 16th-Century Noble Charter — Faithfully Reproduced, Three Times

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..

Historical documents place particular demands on reproduction work.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.

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 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.

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Would you like to have a historical document, a work of art or a family heirloom reproduced?

We are happy to help!