Richard Earlom after Johann Joseph Zoffany

This lively and extraordinary scene published by Robert Laurie & James Whittle from a painting by Zoffany shows a diplomatic procession in 1788 in which the Nawab, ruler of the princely state of Oudh in North India, sends his minister Haidar Beg Khan (‘Hyderbeck’ in the print title) on a mission to meet the newly arrived British colonial governor-general of India, Lord Charles Cornwallis in Calcutta. The mission’s purpose was primarily to negotiate a reduction in contributions paid to the East India Company by the Nawab (ruler) of Oudh.

However, the main subject of the picture is not Haider Beg Khan himself, who can just be made out under an umbrella on a distant elephant in the van, but the multitude of Indian people, either forming part of the train or watching it. Zoffany depicts a startling yet darkly comic moment by depicting in the center of the print, a male baggage elephant who has grabbed its ‘mahout’ (or elephant worker) from his seat and dangles him from its trunk, as other passengers, including women and children, fall off its back.

Johann Joseph Zoffany