Royal Porcelain from Siam

More than one hundred years ago, several wooden chests filled with colourful porcelain arrived in Oslo, after a long sea voyage from Bangkok. The Norwegian sea captain Theodor Ring had acquired a sizeable collection of Bencharong porcelain during his service in the Royal Siamese Navy. In 1904 Ring donated 250 pieces to two museums in the Norwegian capital. After being forgotten for generations, these and other treasures from King Chulalongkorn's Thailand have finally been unpacked again. Bencharong porcelain, with its lavish decorations of flowers and figures with roots in Indian mythology, was custom-made in China for the Royal Court of Siam. In this book, international experts examine the Ring Collection in light of new research, and bring into focus the time and environment in which it originated. Richly illustrated, Royal Porcelain from Siam reveals the beauty of a distinguished Thai contribution to the world history of ceramics.