Estampage or stamping, is a term commonly used in epigraphy to obtain the exact replica of an inscription that cannot be transported.
Ravishankar, former director of the Epigraphy branch of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), Estampage is a purely Indian term used by Epigraphists.
[3] A representative procedure[3] is listed below: Epigraphers usually take a long time (days to weeks) to post-process the generated estampages, as they try to decipher, analyze, transliterate and translate the inscribed text.
[4][5] Some of them include: In 2016, the epigraphy branch of the ASI Southern Zone opened a new, permanent museum and exhibition of estampages named Eugen Julius Theodor Hultzsch Memorial Museum and Epigraphical Photo Exhibition at the historic Fort St. George at Chennai, South India.
This museum is named after E. Hultzsch, a German epigraphist and Indologist renowned for understanding and deciphering the ancient inscriptions of Ashoka, as part of his 159th birthday celebrations.