Mounted against a wall in one of Bangkok’s oldest houses, situated in a museum that was itself a former palace, is a curious display of a home in miniature — a still life of hopes and dreams. This time capsule in the guise of a dollhouse was once owned by Chao Chom Liam, a concubine of King Rama V, and upon closer examination, its tiny details offer revealing vignettes from a period that ushered in significant changes in Thailand.

Ever since I was a child I found dollhouses fascinating. What I didn’t know until I was an adult, was that they started out not as houses for dolls, but as cabinets of marvellously scaled down objects designed for instruction, more than play. Long before mass produced toys, these cabinets were handmade to order, often at considerable cost, and were symbols of status, conformity as well as idealised domesticity. The fact that the Tate Museum in London has over 100 dollhouses in its collection attests to the historical importance of them in regards to English society. Dollhouses in Thailand however, are a rarity, which is why I found myself drawn in for a closer look.

When I first glanced at this white painted wooden cupboard — suggestive of a bathroom medicine cabinet — I didn’t think that it was anything more than a peculiar remnant of someone’s aristocratic childhood. But as I looked at each room I slowly realised that it was more than a mere plaything from a privileged life. Each meticulously crafted room depicted one aspect after another of domestic life (albeit a privileged one) from a time when Thailand was still known as Siam, a nation ruled by an absolute monarch — a country with one foot on the threshold of modernity and the other still firmly planted in the past. This was not just a toy, but more likely a visual guide and interactive tool meant to educate a young woman on a way of life in transition.

While an informational placard describes the display as a ‘Doll Accessories Cabinet’ owned by a concubine from the reign of King Rama V (1868 – 1910), a tiny portrait of King Rama VII and Queen Rambhai Bharni hanging on a side wall of one of the rooms indicate that the ‘house’ was likely assembled during his reign (1925 – 1935).

Resembling a series of well-appointed rooms (complete with electric lights and ceiling fans) from a late Edwardian or possibly early Modern three storey townhouse, the spaces exhibit a way of living dissimilar to the reality of most Thais during the 1920s — the majority of whom were still residing in single story wooden houses with limited access to electricity, which had then been available for less than a generation.

In contrast to traditional Thai houses of the era, this Lilliputian residence is appointed in the western style, as shown in the predominant furnishings of the drawing room, dining room, kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, study and even an entrance foyer with a stairway — one noticeable nod to Thai tradition is the prayer room adjacent to the bedroom on the top floor.

To the left of the entrance is a kitchen, where a wooden work table sees an assortment of crockery both asian and western, methodically laid out in preparation for the day’s meals. On one sideboard is an enamelled kettle, a rare blue glass cake dish with matching dome, more blue glass ice cream dishes, elegant crystal vases, fine china serving platters and bowls in addition to a tureen and even a gravy bowl. On another cupboard are shelves of neatly stacked plates in both formal and day-to-day styles of porcelain. There are diminutive tin cups, a wine cabinet with tiny bottles, small silver plates and a tea cup, along with a Thai style celadon serving bowl with matching pedestal. On the top shelf is a small bottle of silver cleaner (for the silverware, of course), a claret decanter and a pewter and porcelain beer stein labeled ‘München’. While there is a side table with a wash basin and jug in the Victorian fashion, immediately next to it is a large traditional earthenware cistern complete with a wooden lid like the kind you see in monasteries and very traditional Thai houses. In addition to the western style sideboards, there is a very classic example of a Thai pantry cabinet with mesh metal screens as seen in use throughout the country, particularly in rural areas. There is also a basket with small bottles made from Venetian glass and a large glass bowl with a piece of white decorative coral inside. The rug on the floor of this primarily western style kitchen is a Thai style hand woven matt that just about every Thai household has. But perhaps the most charming element present in this latter-day scullery is the minuscule coconut grater stool on the floor.

To the right of the entrance is a drawing room with furnishings and decorative items you can still find to this day in many homes in Thailand. There is one cabinet for porcelain wares and tea sets in varying styles. Another display cabinet is topped with porcelain figurines that can still be found in today’s department stores. There is a piano with a framed photograph on top, a marble bust in one corner and even a rock crystal ball. There are two small paintings of fruits adorning the walls and a decorative Thai elephant statuette dressed with a shimmering silk back covering, encased in glass —still a common sight at any tourist shop in this country.

On the second floor there is a dining room with a table set for afternoon tea as well as more cabinets displaying glassware and a collection of crystal decanters and more tea cups. There is a dressmaker’s model/mannequin with a garment in progress, alongside is a basket on the floor filled with sewing materials. In one corner there is a finely carved Thai style wooden display cabinet containing more porcelain. The walls are hung with framed portraits of Thai temples and coastal scenes. Neatly resting on a mat by the door are a minuscule pair of loafers with wooden shoe trees inside.

Also on the second floor is a study with an era-appropriate writing desk and minuscule fountain pen and inkwell. To the side of the desk is an electric desk lamp with its cord neatly coiled. There are books on a corner shelf, a patterned fabric settee for reclining. Yet another display cabinet holds petite collectible items. In this room are portraits of the King with members of his family and court as well as another portrait showing all the previous kings for the ruling Chakri dynasty.

On the third floor is an elegant bedroom complete with a luxuriously tasseled, canopy bed. Next to which is a western style dressing table with a matching monogrammed satin stool. The dressing table is adorned with items used for personal care such as an assortment of tortoise shell combs, a nano sized toothbrush (resting on a traditional Thai metalware pedestal) and a Bencharong porcelain container. At the foot of the bed is a dress hanging with a fan nearby as if being aired out. Behind the fan is a modern wood encased transistor radio. Completing this room’s arrangement are a pair of white porcelain slippers — Cinderella style — on the floor in front of the wood and glass-curtained dresser.

Attached with the bedroom is a tiled ensuite bathroom which during the 1920s represented the height of modern living. There is a western style freestanding footed bathtub beside a whimsical porcelain flushing toilet with wooden seats and lid, along with the hand painted notice ‘For Ladies Only!’

Finally, there is my favourite space in this house and the one that is quintessentially Thai — the prayer room. Despite the rest of the rooms surrounding the imaginary occupants with all the trappings of the modern era — accoutrements from faraway lands. The owner of this house still saw it fit to have a room dedicated solely to the resident Buddha images and other auspicious items — symbols of prosperity and luck. Interestingly, one fine Buddha image rests atop a thoroughly western double-handled safe, no doubt to keep the family’s valuables such jewels, documents, amulets and gold ingots.

You can lose yourself staring at the handmade details lovingly selected in this house.  I certainly did. While the quality of this cabinet is not on the level of the kind found in Europe, in the context of where and when, and for whom it was produced, it is still fascinating to look at. The more you examine it, the less it feels like a play thing — this was a a very intentional, curated object lesson on how to live a modern life while still incorporating what it means to be Thai. This dollhouse was never about the dolls. Perhaps that is why it has survived to this day — a miniature exhibition in its own right — an imagined modern house displayed in one of the oldest surviving examples of a Thai house, residing in the National Museum behind its own original locked glass cabinet door.

The National Museum

4 Na Phrathat Road, Phra Nakhon, Bangkok Phra Borom Maha Ratchawang, Phra Nakhon, Bangkok 10200

The Doll Accessories Cabinet is part of a permanent exhibition in Phra Tamnak Daeng (The Red House) in the National Museum compound.