Bombay Harbor and Fort from the Hills, Antique Steel Engraving, 1859

An original antique steel engraving, uncolored, titled "BOMBAY." From a wooded hillside the view looks across a calm bay to a fortified headland with walls and buildings at the water's edge and the town stretching away beyond it. Several sailing ships ride at anchor on the open water, with more in the distance near a line of low hills at the left. A road runs along the ridge at the left past a white house, with small figures walking on it. Below, a cluster of huts stands among trees, with a file of soldiers carrying rifles beside them. At the right tall palm trees lean over the slope, where soldiers in tall hats stand and sit resting near a woman carrying a load on her head.

The plate is lettered below the image in Dutch: "BOMBAY.", which translates as "Bombay". Beneath the caption, in a small script, is the publisher's imprint "Uitg. Gebrs Kraaÿ, Amsterdam.", short for uitgegeven (published) by the Kraay brothers of Amsterdam. No artist or engraver is named on the plate.

The source is Britsch-Indië, beschreven naar de nieuwste bronnen by A. van Otterloo (Amsterdam, Gebroeders Kraay, 1859), the Eerste Deel of the series Vreemde Landen en Volken, a set of books on foreign countries and their peoples. Its title page promises Met Vier-en-Twintig Staalgravuren en eene Kaart, that is, with twenty-four steel engravings and a map, and this plate is one of those engravings.

Bombay, now Mumbai, was the chief British port on the west coast of India. The palms, ships and open water give this plate a bright, airy character well suited to a living room or a coastal collection.

This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed.