Join associate curator Sarah Laursen for a lecture on opium and Chinese art—two influential commodities traded in China, the British Empire, and Massachusetts between the 18th and early 20th centuries. This lecture is offered in conjunction with the exhibition "Objects of Addiction: Opium, Empire, and the Chinese Art Trade" (September 15, 2023–January 14, 2024), which explores the entwined histories of the opium trade and the Chinese art market between the late 18th and early 20th centuries. These two commodities—acquired through both legal and illicit means—had profound effects on the global economy, public health, immigration law, education, and the arts that are reverberating still today. Speakers: + Sarah Laursen, Alan J. Dworsky Associate Curator of Chinese Art; + Introductory Remarks by Martha Tedeschi, Elizabeth and John Moors Cabot Director of the Harvard Art Museums. Explore the exhibition: https://harvardartmuseums.org/exhibitions/6265/objects-of-addiction-opium-empire-and-the-chinese-art-trade ----- This program is presented in partnership with the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies. Support for "Objects of Addiction: Opium, Empire, and the Chinese Art Trade" is provided by the Alexander S., Robert L., and Bruce A. Beal Exhibition Fund; the Robert H. Ellsworth Bequest to the Harvard Art Museums; the Harvard Art Museums’ Leopold (Harvard M.B.A. ’64) and Jane Swergold Asian Art Exhibitions and Publications Fund and an additional gift from Leopold and Jane Swergold; the José Soriano Fund; the Anthony and Celeste Meier Exhibitions Fund; the Gurel Student Exhibition Fund; the Asian Art Discretionary Fund; the Chinese Art Discretionary Fund; and the Rabb Family Exhibitions Fund. Related programming is supported by the M. Victor Leventritt Lecture Series Endowment Fund. Additional support for this project is provided by the Dunhuang Foundation. ----- All images and graphics used in the video belong to their respective owners and this channel does not claim any right over them. Copyright Disclaimer: Any use of copyrighted content on this channel constitutes “fair use” pursuant to 17 U.S. Code § 107 as it is utilized for the purpose of criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Video: Recording Thursday, September 14, 2023. Videographer: Plamen Petkov. © President and Fellows of Harvard College. For questions related to permission for commercial use of this video, please contact the Department of Digital Imaging and Visual Resources at am_divr@harvard.edu.