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 aquatint depicts the monumental exterior façade of the Visvakarma (Vishvakarma) Cave, better known today as the celebrated Carpenter’s Cave (Cave 10) at Ellora. Carved directly into the basalt escarpment, the magnificent chaitya hall is shown with its elaborately sculptured entrance, deeply recessed verandah supported by massive columns, and richly ornamented friezes crowning the façade. Small human figures seated before the entrance provide scale, emphasizing the immense proportions of the excavation.

The original drawings were executed by James Wales during his visit to Ellora in 1792–1793 under the patronage of Sir Charles Warre Malet. Following Wales’s death, the drawings were entrusted to Thomas Daniell, who translated them into a series of masterly aquatints that remain among the finest early printed representations of India’s rock-cut monuments.

Today the Ellora series is regarded as one of the most important illustrated records of Indian archaeological and architectural heritage produced during the colonial period, admired equally for its documentary accuracy and artistic achievement.

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).