Burma.- Burmese School (probably circa 1870s) Folding manuscript, or parabaik, of festivities and processions, from the Court Workshop at the Royal Court at Manadaly, Burma, including nine vignettes with several featuring elephants, being both ridden and used in performative battles and displays, opaque pigments on card, heightened with white and gold, with yellow-banded borders but without any text, total sheet approx. 410 x 5000 mm (16 x 196 in), minor surface scuffs and losses of pigment, notably areas associated to folds, a few old repairs to splits and tears visible, folding concertina-style with red painted endpanels, heightened with gold-coloured decoration, scuffed, corners bumped and slightly worn, when folded 410 x 180 mm (16 1/4 x 7 in), [circa 1870s or slightly later]*** The British annexed Burma in 3 stages, following bitter disputes about commercial and diplomatic relations, in 1826, 1852, and Upper Burma in 1885, when the British expeditionary force under General Prendergast proceeded up the Irrawaddy to the Capital at Mandalay. By the end of November King Thibaw and his family had been deported to India, the Kingdom of Burma had ceased to exist, annexation being declared on 1 Jan. 1886. After the capture of Mandalay Palace, the contents of the Royal library, including the stunning painted folding manuscripts of court life, became known to the outside world. Similar examples to the present manuscript are held in the Victoria & Albert Museum (see acc. no. IS.13-1958), and the Schøyen Collection, London and Oslo (see MS 2475).