AN EIGHTEEN CARAT GOLD SPECTACLE CASE PRESENTED BY HIS MAJESTY KING CHULALONGKORN, RAMA V, TO CAPTAIN JOHN BUSH

19TH CENTURY

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)

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.