Page 199 - March 23 2022 Boinghams NYC Indian and Himalayan Art

A Mihr Chand Painting Of Women At The Well

This masterful painting, which so gently captures the soft, naturalistic — a nobleman, a hunter, and a sage —intermingling with the busy women who
aesthetic of the bygone Shah Jahan period, demonstrates the masterful serve the men water as they load clay pots of water for themselves. The scene
capabilities of the Awadhi painter Mihr Chand (active c. 1759-86). Mihr Chand includes charming elements, including a naked toddler, predictably inspired by
was trained in the Mughal tradition at the imperial court in Delhi. Like many European prototypes, joyfully feeding ducks in the lower left corner. An elderly
18th century artists influenced by the political turmoil and dimishing Mughal woman, modedled after classical Mughal portraits, minds the child while she
state, Mihr Chand abandoned the once lavish Imperial atelier to head for the spins thread.
provinces and seek employment with a Nawab or European officer.
Mihr Chand demonstrates a keen eye for detail, capturing everything from the
Mihr Chand landed in Faizabad, the one-time capital of Awadh where he first tension in the rope as the water is collected from the well to the folds in the
gained employment under Nawab Shuja` al-Dawla. Mihr Chand’s masterful nobleman’s clothes as they gather at his ankles. The artist took great care to
work for the Nawab earned the notice of Colonel Antoine Polier (1741-95), a model the faces of each character, from the fine wrinkles in the elder figures,
Swiss adventurer working for the French and British East India Company. to the flawless beauty of the maidens, each idealized yet highly individualized.
An interested collector of Indian painting and manuscripts, the adventurer As was Mihr Chand’s trademark, the attention to natural topography is also
and the artist's relationship grew into a deep working connection, where Mihr astounding, capturing every groove in the ground, the knotted tree bearing
Chand was not only completing original works for Polier, but also producing small fruits, and the mountain landscape in the distance.
reproductions and refurbishing earlier Mughal, Deccani, Rajput, and even
European paintings in the collection of Polier and his colleague, the French In this work, Mihr Chand implements many characteristics of Shah Jahan
Colonel Jean-Baptiste-Joseph Gentil (1726-1799). period painting (r. 1627-58). He utilizes a washed, muted palette with brownish
tints, includes a subtle use of light and shadow, and contours every form with
The breadth of visual resources in his patron’s collection furthered Mihr the perfect level of shading. The execution of the elderly woman’s face appears
Chand’s thirst for knowledge of the techniques and styles of the past to directly inspired by Shah Jahan period works, alongside an emphasis on the
incorporate into his own work. The exposure is evident in his miniatures, feather foliage and overall naturalism so admired by the emperor. The level
demonstrating a recollection of earlier workshops, particularly the period of at which the classical style was emulated in this piece could only have been
Shah Jahan. His appreciation of these historical works caused a major stylistic achieved by the pioneering artist Mihr Chand.
revival of faded imperial taste in late 18th century Awadh, emphasizing
nostalgia as a prevalent mood of the times. The scene of the present painting, The verso of this painting is inscribed in elegant nasta'liq with fourteen
women serving a male traveler at a well, was a popular subject in 17th and couplets from the Bustan of Shaykh Muslih al-din Sa'di (d.1292 AD). The blue
18th century Mughal paintings and was undoubtably inspired by the wealth of and gold floral border on the calligraphic folio matches many of the known
material Mihr Chand had at his disposal. works attributed to Mihr Chand.

Surviving works by Mihr Chand are all painted in a traditional fashion and His work is documented by several dozen signed and attributed paintings,
under exceptional technical influence. His figures, particularly of the female many of which in the Islamic Art Museum, Berlin, which acquired albums
form, are beautifully modelled with particularly astute attention to shadows compiled by Antoine Polier. His works vary from genre scenes, royal portraiture,
and shading to define their naturalistic positions. His work on the female topographic paintings, and flora and fauna. The Achenbach Foundation of the
form was perhaps influenced by subjects like Titian’s reclining Venus which Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco holds three pages from the Lady Coote
he reproduced in the miniature format, an example of which survives at the Album painted by Mihr Chand, including Mihr Chand’s reproduction of the
Museum of Islamic Art in Berlin. Mihr Chand’s works are marked by a warmer, British artist Tilly Kettle’s (1735-1786) portrait of Nawab Shuja-ud-Daula. The
less saturated color palette and a matured approach to spatial composition. British Museum holds two paintings carrying the hand of Mihr Chand. One
He is often credited for introducing aerial perspective into the Awadhi school, (acc. no. 1920,0917,0.9) is a 17th century Mughal painting by Manohar that has
although his works demonstrate capability with a broad array of techniques been touched up by Mihr Chand, while the other (acc. no. 1920,0917,0.13.9)
for illustrating perspective. The present painting conveys spatial recession appears to be a reproduction of a portrait of the Mughal Emperor Akbar
through a highly detailed foreground that blurs into a mountain landscape with his son Jahangir. Several paintings are also known to be collection of
as the scene retreats into the distance. His revision of the Awadhi landscape, the British Library, including a stunningly well modeled nude portrait of a
which was previously marked by an abstract, single color background, had an courtesan, a ragamala painting and a scenic painting of Gajendra Moksha.
invaluable influence on the quality of works produced by all artists of the late The Victoria and Albert Museum also holds a skilled nature scene involving
18th century provincial Mughal schools. a battle between a Lion and a Buffalo near a forest pool (acc. no. IS.234:2-
1952). A painting of a Northern Goshawk attributed to Mihr Chand, now at the
The present painting showcases the best of provincial Mughal ability. Similar Islamic Arts Museum, Malaysia (acc. no. 2017.1.3) sold at Sotheby’s London 19
to the Imperial Mughal examples that precede it, the scene involves a prince or October 2016, lot 8.
nobleman stopping for a drink at the well. This example shows a trio of visitors

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