'LISBON PORT HARBOUR' ATTRIBUTED TO THE MASTER ARTIST NIHAL CHAND (1710-1782)
INDIA, RAJASTHAN, KISHANGARH, CIRCA 1750
Estimate: £4,000 - £6,000
Auction: 11 June 2025 from 10:00 BST
Description
ink and gouache on card, depicting a large square with a turreted and arched city entrance overlooking a harbour, various figures in European dress going about their daily chores including moving items from incoming boats, and on walkabouts, the arched entrance indicating a larger city in the background, to the left of the image, a variety of towered or minaret-style buildings in the background, cross hatching and highlights in black ink
Dimensions
19.7cm x 28.2cm
Provenance
Private UK Collection.
Footnote
This rare eighteenth-century illustration attributed to Nihal Chand of a city harbour that closely resembles the praco do Commerco in the Portuguese capital of Lisbon, is very probably based on an European print. The use of cross-hatching within the details of the buildings to the left, the unusual lines in the sea and sky, as well as little details on the square indicate that the artist was imitating the engraver of a print. The artist most known for this trait is Nihal Chand, whom this painting has been attributed to. For a comparable painting by Chand, entitled ‘Endless Vistas at Kishangarh’, formerly in the Stuart Cary Welch Collection, and now in the Harvard Museum, see object number 1995.116. Cary Welch notes on Chand: ‘Fascinated by the cross-hatching and freely stroked lines of the engraver’s tool, he has imitated them with loving care' (see Exhibition Catalogue, A Room for Wonder: Indian Painting during the British period, 1760-1880, 1978, pp. 130-131). There are a number of other similarities with our painting, including the centred perspective, the sketching of the cloud and sky, and the size of the painting.
Nihal Chand, both an artist and poet, was the chief painter of the Kishangarh court during the reign of Savant Singh (also known as Nagari Das). He is credited for being one of the leading Rajput artists of the 18th century.
For a full and thorough study of Kishangarh Painting see N.Najat Haidar, The Kishangarh School of Painting: 1680-1850, D. Phil. Thesis, Oxford, 1995. See also P. Pal, Court Paintings of India, New York, 1983, R.13.