De Eliphants-Jagt gedaan in ’t Jaar 1717 in de Alutcoer Corle, in ’t Dorp Horregelle

1724-1726

Copper engraving on paper

Print size: 12 x 15 in (30.5 x 38 cm)
Sheet size: 15.25 x 17.75 in (39 x 45 cm)

Elephant Hunt in Ceylon — a rare Dutch view of organised capture, from Valentijn, 1724

This large and detailed engraving depicts a coordinated elephant hunt in Ceylon (Sri Lanka), undertaken in 1717 in the district of Alutcoer Corle, as recorded and published by François Valentijn in his monumental Oud en Nieuw Oost-Indiën. Issued in the mid-1720s, the print forms part of the most comprehensive Dutch visual and textual survey of Asia produced during the VOC period.

The composition presents the hunt as a carefully organised operation rather than a spontaneous chase. Hundreds of figures—hunters, beaters, and attendants—are shown driving herds of elephants through a fenced landscape towards capture enclosures. Palisades, trenches, watch huts, and cordoned pathways articulate the terrain, transforming the tropical environment into a controlled arena of labour and management. In the distance, mountainous topography and dense palm groves situate the scene firmly within the Sri Lankan interior.

Historically, elephant capture was a state-regulated enterprise in Sri Lanka, supplying animals for royal prestige, warfare, transport, and export across the Indian Ocean world. Under Dutch administration, these hunts were documented with particular interest as demonstrations of local expertise, manpower mobilisation, and the island’s natural wealth. Valentijn’s engraving translates this complex practice into a panoramic visual narrative that balances ethnographic observation with encyclopaedic ambition.

Today, the print is prized for its scale, clarity, and rarity, and as one of the most important early European representations of organised elephant hunting in South Asia. It stands as a striking document of colonial knowledge-making, where landscape, labour, and spectacle converge in the Dutch imagination of Ceylon.

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