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 print depicts the magnificent interior of the Visvakarma Cave (Cave 10) at Ellora, one of the finest surviving Buddhist chaitya halls in India. The dramatic barrel-vaulted ceiling, long colonnades of pillars, and monumental seated Buddha enshrined beneath the great horseshoe window are rendered with exceptional architectural precision. Wales’s careful draughtsmanship, combined with the Daniells’ masterful aquatint engraving, produces one of the earliest and most accurate European representations of this celebrated monument.

James Wales was among the first professional European artists to document the cave temples of western India during his travels in the 1790s. Following his death, his drawings were entrusted to Thomas Daniell, who engraved and published them as one of the most important illustrated records of Indian antiquities produced during the early nineteenth century. Today, the Ellora series is regarded as one of the landmarks of British Orientalist printmaking and remains highly prized by collectors, museums, and institutions worldwide.

reff. Abbey, J.R., Travel in Aquatint and Lithography 1770–1860, Abbey Travel 420; Daniell, Thomas & William, Hindoo Excavations in the Mountain of Ellora (London, 1803); Sutton, Thomas, The Daniells: Artists and Travellers (1954); Archer, Mildred, Early Views of India.