This portrait of King Somdetch Phra Paramendr Maha Mongkut and Queen Debserin of Siam was made by an unknown photographer circa 1854-1856. King Mongkut, ruled his country from 1851 to 1868. A quarter-plate daguerreotype, the photograph is a unique positive image made on a silver-coated copper plate. This process is named for one of its inventors, Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre. The daguerreotype was originally presented as a gift to U.S. President Franklin Pierce in 1856 by the king, and later became a very early donation to the Museum's collection of the history of photography in August 1890.
