WALES, James; engraved by DANIELL, Thomas

This impression comes from the 1816 collected edition of the celebrated Oriental Scenery, one of the most important illustrated works on the architecture and antiquities of India. The plate was originally engraved for the Ellora series and later incorporated into the complete folio edition issued in 1816.

The composition presents an atmospheric interior view looking across the monumental courtyard of the Kailasa Temple at Ellora. Massive rock-cut pillars frame the foreground, while richly sculptured façades emerge from shadow into daylight, emphasising both the extraordinary scale and architectural sophistication of the monolithic excavation. Small seated figures within the scene provide a sense of proportion, highlighting one of the greatest achievements of Indian rock-cut architecture.

The drawings upon which this series is based were executed by James Wales during his visit to Ellora in 1792–1793 while accompanying Sir Charles Warre Malet. Following Wales’s death, his drawings passed to Malet, who entrusted them to Thomas Daniell for publication. Daniell transformed these sketches into what remains the finest early printed record of the Ellora caves, combining archaeological accuracy with the picturesque aesthetic that made Oriental Scenery one of the greatest illustrated works on India.

Today the Ellora series represents one of the earliest comprehensive visual surveys of India’s rock-cut monuments and is highly sought after by collectors, institutions and scholars of Indian archaeology, architectural history and colonial topographical art.

reff. Abbey, J.R., Travel in Aquatint and Lithography 1770–1860, Abbey Travel 420; Sutton, Thomas, The Daniells: Artists and Travellers (1954); Oriental Scenery, Sixth Series: Hindoo Excavations in the Mountain of Ellora, Near Aurungabad in the Deccan, in Twenty-Four Views (London: Thomas Daniell, 1803).