Page 103 - Wolly & Wallace, July 1, 2020 Chinese Works of Art UK

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AN EIGHTEEN CARAT GOLD SPECTACLE CASE PRESENTED BY HIS
MAJESTY KING CHULALONGKORN, RAMA V, TO CAPTAIN JOHN BUSH
19 CENTURY
TH
With a hinged cover, one side incised with an elephant and with an inscription reading
‘Presented by His Majesty the King of Siam to The Honble Captain John Bush KCWE,
25 March 1873’, together with a portrait of King Chulalongkorn and a red lacquer
display tray, the case 13cm, 163g. (3)
£10,000-15,000
On 18th April 1855, the Bowring Treaty was signed between the Kingdom of Siam and
the United Kingdom. The agreement liberalised foreign trade in Siam and also led to the
establishment of a British Consulate in Bangkok. A few years later, Captain (later Admiral)
John Bush KCWE (1819-1905) arrived in Bangkok and, due to the rapid increase in foreign
shipping, was appointed as Bangkok’s Harbour Master by King Mongkut, Rama IV (1804-68).
Bush held this post for thirty years and served under both King Rama IV and his son King
Chulalongkorn, Rama V (1853-1910). The solid gold case was presented to Bush on 25th
March 1873 by the young King Chulalongkorn, who was only nineteen. The previous year,
Captain Bush had commanded three Royal Siam Navy ships during a successful trip the King
made to British India, and this case was most probably a gift of appreciation and thanks. The
two men remained close friends thereafter and after Bush’s death in 1905, the King himself
paid for an impressive memorial which still stands in the Protestant cemetery in Charoen
Krung Road, Bangkok.
十九世紀 18K金盒
註：此盒為泰國國王拉瑪五世，朱拉隆功（1853-1910）送給John Bush船長的
禮物。 His Majesty King Chulalongkorn, Rama V (1853-1910)

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