The discs, mounted in 18-karat gold and diamonds, were recently made into earrings by jeweler Glenn Spiro as part of his Materials of the Old World collection, and subsequently acquired by London jewelry house Barron London, who stated that they are part of the company’s private collection and not for sale.
Added to the controversy was Zendaya’s timing, wearing the earrings amid the United States and Israel’s ongoing attacks on Iran, which have resulted in thousands of deaths and widespread destruction to invaluable cultural heritage.
photo Shane Anthony Sinclair/Getty Images
Critics situated the controversy within a longer pattern of Western indifference to the ethics of trading, handling and displaying Middle Eastern heritage — what London-based writer Zirrar Ali described as celebrities, particularly in the Western world, being “largely deaf to questions of ethics and history when it comes to the Global South.”
This type of repurposing, both materially and epistemically, is foundational to the global art market. During this process, whatever archaeological information could still help date or interpret the object is polished off. And unlike restoration, which seeks to stabilize an object to preserve it for future research, repurposing is a one-way process, as the drilling, cutting, mounting, painting, and setting involved cannot be undone.
