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.