Colonel Mordaunt's Cock Match, sometimes called Colonel Mordaunt's Cock Fight, is a painting by the German British artist Johann Zoffany. It records British colonial life in the Indian court of Asaf-Ud-Dowlah. The painting was completed in February 1788, four years after the event it records. The painting is part of the Tate Gallery collection. A recent cleaning has revealed the original colours and made more apparent what appears to be an erection visible on the Nawab of Oudh, the central figure.
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Colonel Mordaunt's Cock Match in the context of Cockfighting
Cockfighting is a blood sport involving domesticated roosters as the combatants. The first documented use of the word gamecock, denoting use of the cock as to a "game", a sport, pastime or entertainment, was recorded in 1634, after the term "cock of the game" used by George Wilson, in the earliest known book on the sport of cockfighting in The Commendation of Cocks and Cock Fighting in 1607. But it was during Ferdinand Magellan's voyage of discovery of the Philippines in 1521 when modern cockfighting was first witnessed and documented for Westerners by the Italian Antonio Pigafetta, Magellan's chronicler, in the Kingdom of Taytay.
The gamecocks (not to be confused with game birds) are specially bred and conditioned for increased stamina and strength. Male and female chickens of such a breed are referred to as gamefowl. Cocks are also bred to be aggressive towards other males of their species. Wagers are often made on the outcome of the match, held in a ring called a cockpit.