Details

Subjects:

Wat Phrachētuphon (Bangkok, Thailand).
Thailand -- Politics and government -- 1782-1945.
Thailand.
Politics and government.

Form/Genre:

folded books.
decrees.
Manuscripts, Thai.
Manuscripts.

Language:

In Thai.

Summary:

Digital facsimile of a nangseu (document) from a member of the Chakrit family, the main royal family of Siam, to regional leaders regarding the migration of ethnic groups to the capital, Bangkok. The first document mentions renovation work to be completed on the royal temple, Wat Pho (Wat Phrachētuphon). The documents are dated 1831 and 1835, except for one document with an illegible date. Written quickly in shorthand, probably from dictation, possibly by a royal scribe.

Notes:

Written in 6 lines per folio.
9 folios on the front and all on the back are blank.
Written between 1835 (latest date included) and 1837 (date of note attached to manuscript).
Folios are black charcoal khoi paper, with white chalk script; folded concertina- or accordion-style.
Covers with a border formed of additional layers of heavy paper; lower cover detached.

Penn Provenance:

Possibly formerly owned by Victor L. Godon, who served as a midshipman and surgeon in the United States Navy in the Pacific, and given by Godon to the American Philosophical Society in 1837 (note in ink, dated 17 November 1837, on fragment of an APS notecard, tied to the upper cover), number L-122-247 (note in ink on notecard).
Housed at the Penn Libraries (cataloged as UPenn Ms. Coll. 390, Item 2991) on loan from the Penn Museum, 1955.
Returned to the Penn Libraries, 2022.

Cited as:

Siam Royal Decrees (Penn Museum 87-43-151). Penn Museum, University of Pennsylvania.

Contributor:

Godon, Victor L., former owner.
American Philosophical Society, former owner.

OCLC:

865505396