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The closing of the elephant pen near Jaele, eight kilometres northeast of Negombo

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The closing of the elephant pen near Jaele, eight kilometres northeast of Negombo

Brandes, Jan

The closing of the elephant pen near Jaele, eight kilometres northeast of Negombo.

The elephants are driven into the pen with fire, gunshots and the sound of drums and rattles.

Every seven years or so the elephants were rounded up and held captive. At the time Jan Brandes visited this pen, there were 25 elephants being held there.

This drawing is one of a series of 13 taking the elephant pen as its subject.

Please contact Rijksmuseum Amsterdam for reuse and copyrights.

Sources and literature

Bruijn, M. de en R. Raben, The world of Jan Brandes, 1743-1808: Drawings of a Dutch traveller in Batavia, Ceylon and Southern Africa (2004)