About Tanja Tolar

I studied Art History (BA) in Ljubljana, Slovenia and Medieval Studies (MA) at Central European University, Budapest before coming to SOAS to study History of Art and Archaeology (MA). In 2012 I was an intern on a project “Illuminating Objects”, researching one object from a group of Spanish lusterware from the Courtauld Institute. I have completed my PhD (SOAS, 2014) on a topic of Islamic enamelled glass and its connections with Byzantium and Venice. Since 2014, I have been teaching as a Senior Teaching Fellow at SOAS, specializing in topic such as Art and architecture of the Islamic world, Cross-cultural dimensions of Islamic material culture, Glass and Ceramics of Islamic lands and Orientalism.

Tanja Tolar is a Senior Teaching Fellow at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London.

NBN Episodes hosted by Tanja:

Amanda Phillips, "Sea Change: Ottoman Textiles Between the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean" (U California Press, 2021)

May 27, 2022

Sea Change

Amanda Phillips
Hosted by Tanja Tolar

Textiles were the second-most-traded commodity in world history, preceded only by grain. In the Ottoman Empire, in particular, the sale and exchange o…

Lisa Reilly, "The Invention of Norman Visual Culture: Art, Politics, and Dynastic Ambition" (Cambridge UP, 2020)

April 20, 2022

The Invention of Norman Visual Culture

Lisa Reilly
Hosted by Tanja Tolar

In The Invention of Norman Visual Culture: Art, Politics, and Dynastic Ambition (Cambridge UP, 2020), Lisa Reilly establishes a new interpretive parad…

Eiren L. Shea, "Mongol Court Dress, Identity Formation, and Global Exchange" (Routledge, 2020)

March 25, 2022

Mongol Court Dress, Identity Formation, and Global Exchange

Eiren L. Shea
Hosted by Tanja Tolar

The Mongol period (1206-1368) marked a major turning point of exchange - culturally, politically, and artistically - across Eurasia. The wide-ranging …

Kimberly Cassibry, "Destinations in Mind: Portraying Places on the Roman Empire's Souvenirs" (Oxford UP, 2021)

February 4, 2022

Destinations in Mind

Kimberly Cassibry
Hosted by Tanja Tolar

In Destinations in Mind: Portraying Places on the Roman Empire's Souvenirs (Oxford UP, 2021), Kimberly Cassibry asks how objects depicting different s…

D. Fairchild Ruggles, "Tree of Pearls: The Extraordinary Architectural Patronage of the 13th-Century Egyptian Slave-Queen Shajar Al-Durr" (Oxford UP, 2020)

January 5, 2022

Tree of Pearls

D. Fairchild Ruggles
Hosted by Tanja Tolar

Shajar al-Durr--known as "Tree of Pearls"--began her remarkable career as a child slave, given as property to Sultan Salih of Egypt. She became his co…

Anna McSweeney, "From Granada to Berlin: The Alhambra Cupola" (Kettler Verlag, 2020)

December 21, 2021

From Granada to Berlin

Anna McSweeney
Hosted by Tanja Tolar

Part of the series CAHIM Connecting Art Histories in the Museum, Anna McSweeney's book From Granada to Berlin: The Alhambra Cupola (Kettler Verlag, 20…