This unicum is the oldest surviving French harpsichord. It bears witness to the work of a famous dynasty of makers and musicians who worked in Paris. It has been kept in the Hospice Saint Roch in Issoudun’s museum since the beginning of the 20th century and was identified in 1986 by the late Michel Robin. Protected as “Historical monument” in 1987, it has since been exhibited in the museum and studied by the maker and scholar Alain Anselm. In 2019, the association Clavecin en France, whose mission is the development of the harpsichord and in particular its teaching, has undertaken to entrust the strict copying of this instrument to the maker Émile Jobin (https://www.clavecin-en-france.org/spip.php?article409). An advising board was constituted to accompany this project in optimal conditions. This paper will present this project in the historiography of a long tradition of reconstructions, copies and facsimiles in the field of musical instruments, notably developed by the Musée de la Musique over the last three decades. It will highlight the exploration of forgotten French repertoires from the first half of the 17th century, specially by Marie Demeillez, harpsichordist and musicologist, notably supported by the Centre de musique baroque in Versailles and its publications. We will thus show the issues of protection, restitution and even innovation with perspectives in research, in musical and educational activities and in the museography of this museum, aimed at various audiences (from musicians to the widest possible public). They underlie this associative sponsorship and initiative which converges with the actions of public authorities.