late 19th century

Episodic treatment of the elephant taming spectacle. The horizon is placed high up and perspective is achieved partly by a bird's eye view effect. In the centre is an enclosure consisting of a brick wall with a balcony running all the way round at the top supported by timber columns on the inside. At one end, at the top of the picture, a king and queen are seen in the royal pavilion attended by their ministers. In the centre of the enclosure is another pavilion protected by a timber fence. Spectators are seated all round the top, on the balcony, and inside the arcade formed by timber supports within Inside the enclosure a wild elephant is being baited by several men. At the top left a pwe (dance-drama) with orchestra featuring Burmese instruments in particular the patt waing (drum circle), kyi waing (gong circle) and pat-ma (suspended base drum). Top right depicts pony racing within a corner of the moated palace (Mandalay) compound with one of the entrances. Provincial rulers on elephants and horseback followed by attendants carrying their regalia to the right and left of the picture. A group of royal cavalry on the lower left are distinguished by their uniforms and horses livery. At the bottom of the picture female elephants and their calves are being driven towards the entrance to the enclosure by tame elephants with their mahouts. Figures are portrayed in costumes of the period - the women in trailing hta-meins, the men in pah-soes worn either as a type of sarong or drawn up to form pantaloons. This latter reveals the prodigious tattooing which Burmese men underwent as a form of talisman against evil. The hta-meins and pah-soes feature the Burmese silk acheik-luntaya cloth.