RQ-03 · Resolved
What are the plate and sheet dimensions, and does a plate mark survive on any edge?
Why it matters
Dimensions are how a census row is matched, and a figure whose convention is unstated cannot be compared with anything. The working record gives approximately 137 × 104 mm without saying whether that is the plate or the sheet, while also describing the sheet as roughly trimmed. The Rijksmuseum records 134 × 103 mm for its impression. A surviving plate mark on any edge also tells you how much of the original sheet is left, which bears on what evidence has been lost.
What the record currently holds
New Hollstein gives the plate as 13.4 × 10.3 cm. The auction cataloguer measured the sheet at 137 × 104 mm. The two figures measure different things, and both are on the record labelled with what they measure.
- 3Institutional recordNew Hollstein Dutch & Flemish, Rembrandt, no. 170, pp. 31–32 and plates 84–87 · Erik Hinterding and Jaco Rutgers · 2013on request
Hypotheses
The 137 × 104 mm figure is a sheet measurement including a margin beyond the plate mark on the untrimmed edges.
PossibleWould be internally consistent: trimmed on one edge, margin retained on others.
The figure was transcribed from a description of a different object.
PossibleShares a possible cause with RQ-01.
Method
- 01Measure under a conservation protocol, recording plate mark and sheet separately, to the millimetre, stating the convention and the measuring instrument.
- 02Record which edges retain a plate mark and which are cut, edge by edge.
- 03Photograph with a scale bar in frame so the measurement is checkable from the image.
What would resolve it
Resolved by the catalogue's plate dimension. Remeasurement of the sheet under a conservation protocol, edge by edge, remains on the version 1.0 gate list as a matter of record quality rather than of doubt.