Luxury’s Fragile Frontier: The Rhinoceros and Venice: An Introduction to a Special Edition

Abstract

Amongst the trinkets available for sale in the shop of the Basilica di San Marco, the most important religious edifice of the city of Venice, is a small fridge magnet depicting a rhinoceros in mosaic. This Venetian mosaic is arguably the first known representation of a rhinoceros in Western Europe since the fourth century. Whether or not the mass touristic hordes to whom such trinkets are marketed have seen or even managed to find this mosaic hidden within the Basilica on the floor near a side chapel, this magnet embodies the core themes of this special issue of Luxury: History, Culture, Consumption. I feel a sense of deep gratitude and privilege that Jonathan Faiers was persuaded of the timeliness of an initially unlikely pairing of themes in this, his last issue as editor of the journal he founded, and a journal which is uniquely Lu xu ry D O I: 10 .1 08 0/ 20 51 18 17 .2 02 0. 18 64 59 2