Title: COLORS, GILDING AND PAINTED MOTIFS IN PERSEPOLIS: APPROACHING THE POLYCHROMY OF ACHAEMENID PERSIAN ARCHITECTURAL SCULPTURE,
C. 520-330 BCE.
Author: Nagel Alexander
Place of publication: USA
Publisher: University of Michigan
Release date: 2010

In this volume, Alexander Nagel investigates the use of polychromy in the art and architecture of ancient Iran. Focusing on Persepolis, he explores the topic within the context of the modern historiography of Achaemenid art and the scientific investigation of a range of works and monuments in Iran and in museums around the world. Nagel's study contextualizes scholarly efforts to retrieve aspects of ancient polychromies in Western Asia and interrogates current debates about the contemporary use of color in the architecture and sculpture in the ancient Mediterranean world, especially in North Africa and the eastern Mediterranean. Bringing a multi-disciplinary perspective to the topic, Nagel also highlights the important role of theory, methodology, and conservation studies in the process of reconstructing polychromy in ancient monuments. A celebration of the work of painters, artisans, craftsmen and -women of Iran's past, his volume suggests frameworks through which historical and contemporary research play a dynamic role in the reconstruction of ancient technological knowledge.
Alexander Nagel is Assistant Professor and Chair of the Art History and Museum Professions Program at the State University of New York's Fashion Institute of Technology. He is a Research Associate at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, where he curated exhibitions on Iran, Iraq, Greece, Egypt, and Yemen. [1]