Elephant

The King of Siam's Elephant
Artist: 
artist unknown
Patron: 
gift of His Majesty King Rama V of Siam
First Placed in Singapore: 
1864
Current Location: 
in front of Old Parliament House
Label
Text of label: 

His Majesty
Somdech Phra Paramindr Maha Chulalongkorn
the Supreme King of Siam
Landed at Singapore
the first foreign land
visited by a Siamese monarch
on the 16th March, 1871

[similar inscriptions in Thai, Chinese and Jawi]

entry: 

This was given to Singapore in 1872, by the King of Siam, on his first-ever visit to a foreign country. It originally stood in front of the Town Hall, then later the Victoria Memorial Hall. The King gave at least one other such elephant as a gift on his travels, his gift to Netherlands East Indies sits now in front of the National Museum, Jakarta, which is sometimes called 'museum gajah'.