Views taken at the Seven Pagodas near Sadras

A pair of watercolours from Davis's first year in India. An amateur artist, Davis was serving in the Madras infantry in 1780. The 'Seven Pagodas' are at Mahabalipuram near Sadras on the Coromandel coast (Tamil Nadu). Davis was in India from 1780-1806, entering the Company's service in 1783. He joined Samuel Turner's embassy to Tibet, travelling as far as Bhutan, and his sketches taken on the expedition illustrated Turner's official Account (1800). He was stationed in the Bhargalpur district from 1784-1793 and entertained the Daniells there in 1788 and 1790-1791. His Bhutan drawings were the models for William Daniell's rare Views of Bootan, published in 1813.