Portrait of King Louis XIV of France (obv) and Louis XIV receiving the Siamese ambassadors (rev)

Mauger, Jean

Bronze medal commemorating the 1686 Siamese embassy to France designed by the royal medallist, Jean Mauger (1648–1722) and produced 1686-89 in Paris. A portrait of King Louis XIV (1638–1715) of France in profile is inscribed: LUDOVICUS MAGNUS REX CHRISTIANISS. On the reverse is an image of the French King receiving the Siamese ambassadors at Versailles, inscribed and signed: FAMA VIRTUTIS | ORATORES REGIS SIAM (Virtuous Fame, Ambassadors of the King of Siam), M. DC. LXXXVI. | MAUGER. F (1686 made by Mauger). The three Siamese ambassadors, Kosa Pan, Ok-luang Kanlaya Ratchamaitri, and Ok-khun Sisawan Wacha, kneel before Louis XIV and present a gift. The design may have been based on a drawing by Charles Le Brun (1619–1690) for a never completed painting. The reception was held in the Hall of Mirrors, attended by 1500 courtiers with Louis XIV seated on a silver throne raised on a platform draped with a Persian carpet. The king was dressed in a gold silk robe studded with diamonds, allegedly resembling the Siamese kings’ formal attire. A series of six embassies travelled between the Siamese and French courts between 1680 and 1688. The mission of the 1686 embassy was to ratify trading agreements negotiated the previous year by the French ambassador, Chaumont, at the Siamese court at Ayutthaya. For both parties it was a chance to lessen the power of the Dutch East India Company as well as an advantageous trading alliance. However, in 1688 a military coup overthrew King Phra Narai (1633–1688) of Siam and France was expelled from the country.