'The Kingdom Of Siam' At The Peabody Essex Museum

SALEM, MASS.

:The summer of 1686 was a tranquil time for Louis XIV. His court was by then permanently settled at Versailles and he had recently entered into a companionable second marriage. Apart from an embarrassing health complaint (one that his courtiers euphemistically located on his thigh), his domestic life was contented and uneventful.

It was at this time that an embassy from Siam landed in Brittany with the desire to be presented to the king. The entourage, accompanied by a French escort, made a circuitous journey, passing through the principal towns along the Loire to Orleans, then north to Paris. Along the way, there were visits to the chateaux of Chambord and Fontainebleau, and, in Paris, to the Louvre and Notre Dame. During their sightseeing, the foreigners were themselves an attraction. Crowds gathered wherever they went, and their escorts made note in dispatches of their exotic habits - like bathing.