View of a European City

Attributed to Nihal Chand
India (Kishangarh, Rajasthan), ca. 1750
Watercolour on paper
19 cm high, 28 cm wide

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A panoramic view of a European port city. The use of hatching and cross-hatching throughout emulate engravings. This illustration is based on an engraving by Thomas Bowles after Peter van Ryne labelled as Antwerp and Amsterdam in different sources (see an example labelled as Antwerp in the National Library of Portugal, no. E. 1649 V. or an example labelled as Amsterdam in the Zuiderzeemuseum, Enkhuizen, no. 001104). The bridge in the foreground does not appear in either version of the print. It is possible that it is an addition from a different engraving.

A watercolour attributed to Nihal Chand by Stuart Cary Welch is in the Harvard Art Museums (accession no. 1995.116). It depicts Kishangarh where Chand was court painter. However, the scenery is more akin to a French garden, suggesting that Chand was using European prints as a model. Cary Welch writes that ‘fascinated by the cross-hatching and freely stroked lines of the engraver’s tool, he has imitated them with loving care.’¹ Not only does our painting share the same mark-making, but it is also the same size and with the same red braid border.
A similar depiction of a port city, possibly Lisbon, has been attributed to Nihal Chand.²

n.b. accession numbers are clickable links.

[1] Cary Welch, Stuart. A Room for Wonder: Indian Painting during the British Period, 1760-1880. New York: The American Federation of Arts, 1978, p. 130.
[2] See Lyon and Turnbull, Islamic and Indian Art sale 11 June 2025, lot 135. https://www.lyonandturnbull.com/auctions/islamic-and-indian-art-850/lot/135?srsltid=AfmBOorzEZBdxVJMz7rjL2y7-9gUpWplLbBvFb4MJJ8M2duPVIv3cnHD

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