‘Company paintings’ were produced by Indian artists for Europeans living and working in the Indian subcontinent, especially British employees of the East India Company. They represent a fusion of traditional Indian artistic styles with conventions and technical features borrowed from western art. Some Company paintings were specially commissioned, while others were virtually mass-produced and could be purchased in bazaars.

Schools of Company Painting never really developed in the other areas of South and South-East Asia that came under British influence, but occasionally a British officer might commission a local artist to make drawings especially for him. This is an example of a Company-style painting from Burma (Myanmar), and it comes from an album of 50 coloured drawings made around 1887 by a local Burmese artist. The leather-bound volume has a four-page index tipped in, written in English, and is divided into three sections dealing respectively with elephants, horses, and people. This picture depicts 'The King's elephant' with a mahout (driver) carry his ankus (goad).