Re-contextualising the Object: Using New Technologies to Reconstruct Lost Interiors of Medieval Islamic Buildings

There has been a common theme in the display of Islamic architectural fragments. De-contextualised and alone, so often the rather opaque provenance and questions as to how the objects became detached from their original location have led to a profound disconnect between the objects and the buildings from which they came. This article proposes a new way of displaying and understanding such items, as well as confronting the issues of origin head on. The focus is on one case study; the Ilkhanid lustre tiles from the tomb of Shaykh ʿAbd al-Samad in Natanz, Iran. A number of the tiles are in major collections around the world, with little sense of the cumulative appearance of the complete composition, or the other decorative elements of the building. By using low-cost building materials and high quality printing it is possible to recreate a sense of the Ilkhanid-era appearance of the interior of the Natanz tomb. The original scale, context and epigraphic programme will become clear, and the objects will no longer be viewed in isolation. This article challenges several curatorial conventions, and bridges the divide between the objects and the building of which they originally formed an integral part. The limited cost, as well as comparative ease and simplicity, demonstrates a new way of approaching the presentation of architectural fragments ripped from their original location.