Instruments of Diplomacy: 19th Century Musical Instruments in the Smithsonian Collection of Thai Royal Gifts

Abstract

This paper discusses two groups of musical instruments gifted by Thai monarchs to the United States: six instruments accompanying the Harris Treaty (1856) and nineteen instruments sent for Philadelphia’s Centennial Exposition (1876). We suggest that the selection of these pieces was primarily for aesthetic quality or display, not for their acoustic properties. Though they are visually impressive, sometimes a single item was given of normally paired instruments; some pairs given are not of matching design; non-visible components required to play them were originally missing; and one cannot assemble the instruments given into most traditional ensembles. Yet they served well as symbols, in King Mongkut’s words to U.S. President Pierce, of “heartful and true friendship” and to confirm the “power in manufactures” of Thailand’s “workmen and artists.” We conclude by briefly contrasting these with the instruments presented to the Library of Congress by King Bhumibol Adulyadej, Rama IX (a musician himself), during his 1960 visit to Washington, D.C.