Do You Like My Hat?
- Celadon glazed stoneware
- Si Satchinalai (Sawankhalok), Central Thailand
- Ayutthaya Period, 14th-16th century CE
- Imperfect figure: Plumer Collection, UMMAA 47674
- Perfect figure: Robinson Collection, UMMAA 96-10-49
These small figurines were made in the Ayutthaya kingdom of Thailand for use as votive offerings. In a tradition that continues today, family members place figurines, flowers, and food in miniature houses outside their home to seek the protection of ancestor and nature spirits. These spirit house figurines depict a mother holding her child. During the firing process of the imperfect example, a fragment from a nearby object stuck to the figure's head, giving her a jaunty hat.