Phya Bhaskarawongse ('Siam')

Signed 'Spy' (Leslie Ward), this chromolithograph from Vanity Fair's 'Statesmen' series (No. 313) portrays Phya Bhaskarawongse, Siamese Special Envoy to England, beneath a Siamese crown device and the single caption 'Siam'. Ward dresses his subject in a Western frock coat with a star medallion at the breast—diplomatic credentials made visible—but retains the traditional chong kraben wrapped trousers below, neatly encoding the envoy's dual cultural position. The figure carries the same patrician composure Ward extended to European statesmen, acknowledging Siam's formal diplomatic standing at a moment of intense European imperial competition in Southeast Asia.