Decoding the Two-Dimensional Pattern Found at Takht-i Sulayman into Three-Dimensional Muqarnas Forms

The purpose of this paper is to propose new three-dimensional translations of the two-dimensional plan of a muqarnas found incised on a plaster slab, discovered in Takht-i Sulayman, Iran, and studied and analysed by Ulrich Harb. Harb proposed a three-dimensional interpretation, but this does not match the general historical context suggested by the contemporary examples of muqarnas forms, nor does it match the logic of the composition suggested by the two-dimensional plan. New three-dimensional decodings of the plan are therefore proposed. The method used by this paper is proposed as a model for later studies concerning the decoding of similar historical patterns.