Presentation Bowl
date: label: Accession Date
content: 9 Mar 1859
name: label: Donor Name
content: King Maha Mongkut
notes: label: Notes
content: FROM CARD: "A HIGH PEDESTALLED WOODEN BOWL, OUTSIDE COVERED WITH A FINE PATTERN OF CUT ABOLONE SHELL INLAID IN A BLACK SUBSTANCE (LESS DURABLE THAN REAL LACQUER)." NOTE: THIS OBJECT IS NUMBERED 4018. HOWEVER IT IS INVENTORIED UNDER THE 48 NUMBER. WHEN REMOVED FROM EXHIBIT THE NUMBER SHOULD BE FIXED.
label: Notes
content: Illustrated and described in McQuail, Lisa. 1997. "Treasures of Two Nations: Thai Royal Gifts to the United States of America" Smithsonian Institution. p. 70
label: Notes
content: This object was on display at National Museum of Natural History exhibit "Objects of Wonder", 2017 - 2024. Identified there as a presentation bowl, wood, lacquer, and shell. The bowl's lacquer coating is made from the sap of the Burmese lacquer tree, Melanorrhoea usitata, which grows in the seasonally dry forests of Myanmar and Thailand. The bowl's shimmering inlay comes from the Green Turban snail, Turbo marmoratus. Its unpolished shell highlights the painstaking effort of the craftsmen who figured out how to uncover and use the iridescent nacre.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 21 Apr 2025
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Thailand, Asia
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Siamese
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 266032
label: USNM Number
content: E48-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Bowl
physicalDescription: label: Diameter - Object
content: 47 cm
label: Height - Object
content: 28 cm