A herd of buffaloes in Tay Bak Koi’s inimitable style of the animals shaped like Minangkabau roofs provides a welcome distraction in this work with two cowherds resting on the side. The topography is punctuated by the brown curved horns like little sickels. The sharp-angled hump forms with thinly etched outlines and the play of colours are as bright as the earth toned hues enhance the beauty of this piece. Chia Wai Hon wrote on his buffaloes: “… tightly stylised creature with a massive body supported on two pairs of inverted V-shaped legs, a small head and a sharp hump…” Tay Bak Koi, who studied at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Art in 1957-1960, worked in the Nanyang Style. The son of a seafood wholesaler, he had his first solo of 40 works at the Singapore National Library in 1964. In October 1996, The Art Gallery Penang hosted a solo for him, In Harmony With Nature.