3-056-669 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Elephants playing in the forest, 1850. The elephants are touching each other with their trunks. Antelope wander in the distance. In the top left an animal tries to reach another animal in the branches of a tree, possibly a leopard. From an elephant treatise, probably Thai in origin. Elephants were considered very important in Thailand and India. Not only were they valued for their strength, but the paler coloured elephants were kept by the Thai court in luxurious conditions, believing they would bring them wealth.