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Burma / Myanmar: Studio photograph of an elegant young Burman / Bamar woman with a large cheroot. Taken by an unknown photographer - thought to have been Felice Beato - during Lord Elgin's tour of Burma in 1898

The cheroot that the young woman holds is a typical attribute in studio portraits of Burmese women, whose custom of smoking large cigars was noted with some astonishment by European visitors, who also commented on their relative freedom, beauty and confidence.

She wears a striped silk hta-mein (wrap-around skirt) and a close-fitting jacket of fine muslin or cotton known as an ein-gyi. Her hair is adorned with a floral headband and she wears necklaces and earrings.

During the Konbaung Dynasty (1752-1885), rich jewellery, fine fabrics such as silk and garments such as her jacket were reserved for court officials and their wives by law. After the fall of the Burmese monarchy in 1885 they were worn by the wealthy.

This photograph is from an album recording aspects of Lord Elgin's Burma tour of November to December 1898. Victor Alexander Bruce (1849-1917), 9th Earl of Elgin and 13th Earl of Kincardine, served as Viceroy of India between 1894 and 1899.