On September 21, 2013, the Chicago History
Museum opened a new exhibit entitled “The Queen and the White City,” which
celebrates the grand introduction of Siam (modern Thailand) on the world’s
stage at the World’s Columbian Exposition held in Chicago in 1893. The exhibit features artifacts from the fair,
returning to Chicago for the first time in 120 years, as well as an elaborately
embroidered photo album in the Museum’s collection presented by Queen Savang
Vadhana to Bertha Palmer, President of the fair’s Board of Lady Managers. The exhibit runs through March 2, 2014.
Glessner House Museum is fortunate to possess a
beautiful artifact from the Siamese exhibit at the Columbian Exposition – a
silver niello punch bowl - purchased by John and Frances Glessner when the fair
closed 120 years ago this month. Most
people in the United States had seen few, if any, articles from Siam, so their
exhibits proved to be of great interest.
The following description of the Siam pavilion in the Manufactures
Building is taken from a guidebook published for visitors to the fair:
“Across the promenade from Hayti is the building
of Siam. It is a royal pavilion, erected
by the Siamese government, from a design by a native architect. Native wood and
other material and native labor alone were used in its construction. It is a small building, twenty-six feet
square, with a front elevation of thirty-two feet. The wood used is teak, of the fine kind used
in the building of the Malay proas, and the façade and roof have been beautifully
carved and gilded. These carvings, all
done by hand, are exquisitely beautiful, and represent the work of the best
Siamese artists. Although her displays
are not confined to this building, Siam here shows many exhibits of gems, rosins, dyes, silks, cottons, grains and a
very fine display of manufactured and leaf tobacco. Some of the native boats are wonderful, and
the work of the native women is very fine.”
Excerpts from an article about the pavilion,
which appeared in the Chicago Tribune
on May 29, 1893, provide further details:
“For concentrated splendor and condensed
costliness, the Siamese pavilion and exhibit excel anything in the Manufactures
building . . . its contents are estimated to be worth $300,000.
“The pavilion itself is a more than usually
interesting one, as it was made in Siam, and is an exact reproduction of the
garden house of the King, at Bangkok, and is the identical Siamese pavilion of
the Paris Exposition, a little rusty in some places, but almost as good as new. Its floor is elevated four steps above the
dais on which it stands. It is supported
by several slender pillars, and is open all around. On each of the four sides the roof is a sharp
gable, and in the center is drawn up to a sharp point, and loaded with ornament.
“The material is wood painted red and yellow,
and inlaid everywhere with bits of glass of various bright colors. The effect is excessively bizarre, and the
structure almost looks like a huge piece of jewelry.”
Siam also exhibited in the Transportation,
Ethnological, and Forestry Buildings, but it was their extensive exhibit in the
Manufactures Building that attracted the most attention. In The
Official Directory of the World’s Columbian Exposition published by the W.
B. Gonkey Company in 1893, a full 2-1/2 pages are devoted to listing the
various articles on display, amongst which were the following:
-Rice, sugar, potatoes, dried fish and meat
-Cigars and tobaccos
-Cotton, hemp, silk
-Agricultural implements and farmers’ tools
-A large exhibit of teak, bamboo, and other
woods
-Bones, tortoise shells, elephant tusks plain
and carved, horns, antlers
-Siamese fruits in wax and in paintings
-Waxed flowers
-Objects made of rattan, and many examples of
basket work
-Vegetables and seeds
-Fishing equipment
-48 varieties of floor matting
-Clothing made of silk, cotton, and embellished
with gold thread
-Silk penungs, prince’s state robe and girdle,
doublets
-Fancy needlework including large screens and
historical scenes
-Precious gems
-Model boats and houses
-Wax model of a palace
-China rice bowls, powder cups, tea cups,
spittoons
-Earthen stoves, goblets, jugs and figures of
animals
-Fancy scent bottles
-Carvings in ivory, wood and other materials
-Metal work with red or blue enamel work, many
set with diamonds
-Gilded water bowls, trays, cups, betel sets
-Silver article including bowls, trays,
spittoons, urns, vases, toilet articles, and picnic cases
-Brass articles including fruit knives,
utensils, seed picks, eating services
-Copper rice pots, cake pans, and water pots
-Pearl inlaid work including salvers, trays,
boxes, plaques and cases
-Lacquered boxes and bowls
-Tiger, leopard, armadillo, python, rhinoceros
and other skins
-Gold-beaters' anvils, hammers and other tools
-Native instruments
-Bead work including tea cozies, biscuit boxes,
frames, chess sets, and baskets
When the Fair closed in October 1893, some
objects were shipped back to Siam but many remained in Chicago. The next month, Frances Glessner recorded in
her journal that “we bought a beautiful punch bowl from Siam – silver and
gold.” Most of the items from the
exhibits were donated by the King of Siam to the newly created Columbian Museum,
according to an article entitled “Give to the Museum” in the Chicago Tribune dated November 18, 1893:
“The Columbian Museum enjoyed its usual good
fortune yesterday, and was the recipient of the following important donations .
. .
“King Chululakorn of Siam – All the Siamese
exhibits, with their pavilions in the Manufactures, Transportation,
Ethnological, and Forest Buildings. The
forestry exhibit, consisting of over 150 beautiful specimens of Siamese woods,
though important, does not admit of description. The ethnological exhibit consists of a great
variety of Siamese costumes, household and mechanics’ utensils, weapons of
warfare, and models of houses. The
transportation exhibit consists of a complete set of Siamese methods of travel,
such as sedan chairs, ox carts, and boats.
The greatest interest attaches to the manufactures exhibit and its
gorgeous and well-remembered pavilion.
The articles of manufacture, which must be numbered by the thousand,
cover every phase of Siamese life, but running more particularly to jewelry and
jewelry boxes.”
Exactly how the Glessners came to acquire their
punch bowl, and why it was not included in the gift from the King of Siam to
the Columbian Museum is not known. The
ensemble - consisting of a large presentation bowl, three-footed stand with
pointed scallop edging, and oversized ladle - is composed of hammered silver
with applied gold leaf. The surface is
covered with niello - a black mixture of copper, silver, and lead sulphides -
which is used as an inlay to fill in the intricate designs cut into the surface
of the pieces. Siamese artisans were
known for their excellent niello work, dating back several centuries, although
the process was also used by craftsmen in various parts of Europe since the
Iron Age.
The intricate decoration of the
punch bowl includes all-over foliate motifs with squirrels and birds amidst
flowering boughs, with frolicking rabbits among leaves and hillocks at the
base. The central reserve on the bottom
of the bowl (shown above) features a fanciful tiger on cross-hatched hills against a
background of stylized rosettes and leaves.
Ironically the beautiful detailing of this section was never visible
when the bowl was in use.
An interesting side note is that a pair of
especially fine gilt silver niello teapots, with decoration similar to the
punch bowl, was presented to President Franklin Pierce in 1856 by Siam’s King
Rama IV. They are now in the possession
of the Smithsonian Institution.
John Glessner noted of the punch bowl in The
Story of a House that “Sir Purdon Clarke of the British Museum said (it)
was a museum piece so fine that our Art Institute should keep an eye on it and
never let it get away.” Ironically, the
Glessner descendants did donate the pieces to the Art Institute in 1971, but
ownership was transferred to the Glessner house in 1972. Today it continues to occupy a place of honor
on the side table in the dining room, exactly where the Glessners displayed it
for their guests to enjoy and admire.
NOTE:
During a visit by representatives from the Thai government on March 8,
2014, it was noted that the “punch bowl” is in fact a rice bowl. Specific designs, including the tiger on the
underside and the peonies, indicate that it was originally made for the royal
household and then sent for display at the World's Columbian Exposition.
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