Lot Essay
Pir Pahar is a hill near Monghyr on the Ganges, which was crowned with the ruins of a Mughal house. As with Sitakund (see lot 16) the Daniells visited twice, on both occasions when they were staying at Bhagalpur, in late October of 1788 and in 1790. Another watercolour, formerly in the P&O collection, shows the same subject from the other side of the hill; that image served as the basis for a later oil by Thomas (see Shellim, 1979, TD86). The present view highlights the dramatic isolation of the ruin.