MARIA THERESA (1717-1780), Holy Roman Empress, Archduchess of Austria. Patent of nobility and grant of arms issued in favour of Giovanni Francesco Cattaneo, in Latin, n.p., n.d., raising him and his descendants to the nobility of Lombardy in recognition of his family's role in building the aqueducts of Milan, illuminated manuscript on vellum, written in black ink in a neat italic hand, with a large miniature of the Cattaneo coat of arms with landscape background, 2 leaves, 341 x 260mm, middle bifolium only (lacking opening and concluding pages); with a patent of nobility signed by Maria Theresa, raising Vincenzo Cattaneo to the rank of baron, n.p., 28 November 1771, counter-signed by Chancellor of State von Kaunitz-Rietberg and Joseph von Sperges, outer bifolium only (lacking middle leaves); [with] a letter signed by Maria Theresa's consort, the Emperor Francis I, to Franz Joachim, Cardinal of Bern, in Latin, Vienna, 23 October 1758. (3)