Wednesday, November 18, 2026, 12:30–1 p.m.
Collection Connections: Past Traditions in Luxury & Loss
What did luxury look like in the past? For hundreds of years, the powerful and the wealthy desired luxury that looked like iridescent kingfisher feathers, patterned tortoiseshells, creamy elephant ivories, and translucent rhinoceros horns. However, these extraction practices contributed to great losses in wildlife populations. And coupled with a growing environmental consciousness, governments around the world eventually banned the commercial trade of these wild animal materials starting in the 20th century. Join Dany Chan, Associate Curator of Asian Art and curator of the exhibition Luxury & Loss: Feather, Shell, Tusk, Horn, to examine the historical appeal of these four materials, the ecological impact of their uses, and society’s evolving responses to these past traditions, demonstrating an enduring human desire for beauty and luxury that still affects us today, both globally and in our own backyards.
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