Simplicity is the key to an effectively balanced composition, and in this area, Dato Chuah Thean Teng was nonpareil. The train of two bullock carts with two cows with boomerang-shaped horns in the forefront and one visible from the back, is practically driven by the two wheels visible from the diagonal edge. The bobbing white kopiah of the mahoots set a counter rhythm while the simplified canopies seem to keep men, animals and machines in a taut rein. Notable is the pencil-etched lines which give the picture the lightweight touch of a drawing. Teng, as he is better known, was honoured with a Retrospective by the National Art Gallery (NAG), Kuala Lumpur, in 1965 and the Penang State Art Gallery in 1994, and again in 2008 with a Tribute Exhibition by the NAG. He had the accolade of two of his works, Two of A Kind and Tell You a Secret being chosen for the Unicef (United Nations International Children’s Education Fund) greeting cards in 1968 and 1988 respectively. He was conferred a Datoship in 1998, and a Live Heritage Award in 2005. His works at the Yahong Art Gallery in Batu Ferringhi in Penang is a veritable museum of his, apart from displaying the batik works of his three sons and two grandsons.