Restored and Repurposed

About

Many old objects are not as their makers left them. Ancient sculptures dug up in the Renaissance were often completed: the Laocoön, found in Rome in 1506, received an outstretched arm that was removed in the 1950s, after the original bent arm had been identified. Paintings were cut down to fit new frames, overpainted to suit changing taste or moved from panel to canvas.

Reuse runs just as deep. A Roman cameo of Augustus crowns the Cross of Lothair (c. 1000), and Fatimid rock-crystal ewers became reliquaries in European treasuries. Buildings changed faith and function: the Parthenon served as church and then mosque, and a Renaissance cathedral was built into the centre of Córdoba's Great Mosque. Modern conservation aims for changes that are visible and reversible. Yee Sookyung's Translated Vase series joins shards of discarded ceramics with gold. Look for joins, shifts in surface and parts that do not match.