Nawab Shuja' ud-Daula of Awadh

The portrait of Nawab Shuja' ud-Daula of Awadh by Mihr Chand is a small but important example from the late eighteenth century illustrating the way in which Mughal miniature techniques interacted with European artistic methods in Awadh. In the painting the Nawab is shown in three-quarter profile, wearing a green turban, a dark coat lined with fur and a white garment beneath it. The precise depiction of his facial features, clothing and jewellery shows off the careful attention to detail which is typical of Indian miniature painting. There is a striking cloudy sky behind the Nawab, and the oval composition is bordered by a richly decorated frame with floral designs and gold decoration. It is especially important since it is based on an oil painting of Shuja' ud-Daula by the English artist Tilly Kettle, who was working in India from 1769 to 1776; Mihr Chand converted Kettle's European-style portrait into the smaller format typical of an Indian miniature. This version shows the artistic exchange that was occurring in eighteenth-century Awadh. Mihr Chand also introduced a higher degree of naturalism and spatial depth in his work; the way he depicted the sky and the landscape shows off the technique of aerial perspective, according to which objects in the distance become lighter and bluer in order to give the impression of depth. The painting is therefore a combination of the artistic conventions of the later Mughal period and European portraiture.