Wender·Vista
Ajanta Caves
shown on ceramic, 12-inch tileIndia
above the Waghora River, in Maharashtra

Ajanta Caves

— — a wall the monks painted, then walked away from.

— Where it lives

Not only on a wall.

A small tile on the nightstand catching the morning. A larger one above the fire. Yours, wherever you spend the slow hours.
— On the nightstand, a 6-inch on a walnut stand
— Among the books, a 6-inch leaning into the spines
— Beside the kettle, a 12-inch propped
— Down a quiet hall, an 18-inch floating off the wall
— Above the fire, the 24-inch in a walnut surround
— a note from the studio

“Thirty rock-cut Buddhist caves carved into a horseshoe cliff above the Waghora River in central India. Begun in the 2nd century BCE, finished and abandoned by the late 5th. The paintings inside, bodhisattvas, jatakas, and court scenes, slept in the dark for thirteen hundred years until a British hunting party found them again in 1819. The colour is still in the rock.

from the studio
Ajanta Caves
— bring it home

Ajanta Caves, on ceramic.

Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.

What kind of piece?
One tile — square or rectangle.
How big?
the popular one — counter, shelf, nightstand
6 × 6 in · 15 cm · 1.6 lb
Surface finish
A clear glossy finish — the artwork reads as if under resin. Ideal for show-pieces and framed wall art.
How it sits
A hidden cleat — sits ¼″ proud of the wall.
$58
Hand-finished and shipped from our studio at the foot of the Smokies. On your wall in about ten days.
— size
6 × 6 in
15 cm
— weighs
1.6 lb
solid in the hand
— surface
ceramic, hand-finished
art rests beneath a thin glossy finish
— from
Knoxville, TN
our family studio, at the foot of the Smokies
— start a Coaster Set

Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.

— about Ajanta Caves

The place, in three passes.

A little of what's known, in case you fall down the rabbit hole — or want to go see it yourself.
— the place

The Ajanta Caves sit in the Aurangabad district of Maharashtra, about 100 kilometres north of the city of Aurangabad and 450 kilometres east of Mumbai. Thirty caves are cut into a horseshoe-shaped basalt scarp above a sharp meander of the Waghora River, arranged in a single tier along roughly 550 metres of cliff. The site was inscribed by UNESCO in 1983. Excavation falls into two phases: an earlier group from the 2nd century BCE and a later Mahayana group from the 5th century CE under the Vakataka dynasty.

— the stone

The caves are cut into Deccan Traps basalt, the same flood basalts that cover most of western India. Caves 9, 10, 19, 26, and 29 are chaityas, prayer halls with stupas at their far end; the remainder are viharas, monastery dwellings with cells arranged around a central court. Cave 26 holds a seven-metre reclining Parinirvana Buddha cut from the rock face. Cave 1's painted bodhisattvas, Padmapani and Vajrapani on either side of the shrine, are among the most reproduced images in Indian art history.

— the visit

The Archaeological Survey of India manages the site and opens it daily except Mondays, roughly 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Foreign visitors pay 600 rupees and Indian visitors pay 40. The cooler dry months from November to February are the easier visit. Monsoon, June through September, brings the Waghora into full flow and a seasonal waterfall at the far end of the gorge, but the paintings are then lit only in low light to slow pigment damage. Photography without flash is permitted.

— where
India · Aurangabad district, Maharashtra
— within
Ajanta Caves
— elevation
480 m · 1,575 ft
— position
20.5519° N · 75.7033° E
— the neighborhood

What's nearby.

A handful of named places within an hour's walk or short drive. Some we've already painted; some we will.
100 km S
Ellora Caves
rock-cut temple complex
100 km S
Aurangabad
city
100 km S
Bibi Ka Maqbara
Mughal tomb
115 km S
Daulatabad Fort
hill fort
N
Ajanta Caves
Ellora Caves
Aurangabad
Bibi Ka Maqbara
Daulatabad Fort
— common questions

What people ask.

A few questions we get about Ajanta Caves — and about bringing the piece home.
— about the place

A British East India Company officer named John Smith, on a tiger hunt in April 1819. His name and the date are still scratched into the wall of Cave 10, above the painted figures.

The earliest belong to the 2nd century BCE. The latest belong to the late 5th century CE under the Vakataka king Harisena. Most surviving murals are from the later Mahayana phase.

Mineral pigments bound in lime plaster on a clay-and-cow-dung ground: red and yellow ochre, lampblack, lapis lazuli for blue, and terre verte. The lapis was imported from Afghanistan.

No. The site is an Archaeological Survey of India monument, not an active monastery. The caves were abandoned by the early 6th century CE and forgotten until 1819.

Both are UNESCO sites in Maharashtra, but Ellora (about 100 kilometres south) holds Buddhist, Hindu, and Jain rock-cut temples from a later period, while Ajanta is entirely Buddhist and earlier.

— about the piece in your home

It carries well. Ajanta is one of the foundational sites of Indian Buddhist art and is taught in nearly every Indian art-history course. A Small or Medium with a handwritten note travels safely as a meaningful keepsake.

The deep ochres and lapis tones suit Jewel-tone Maximalist, Warm Eclectic, and Heritage-Asian rooms. The stained-glass treatment reads strongly against painted plaster, dark wood, and brass.

A single Large reads well on a console wall. For a sofa, a four-tile Mural anchors the space, and a nine-tile Mural takes a full feature wall.

Yes, in the Dura Satin or Matte finish. Both are scratch-resistant and hold steam. The Glossy finish is reserved for framed wall pieces.

A microfibre cloth and water. No solvents, no abrasive pads. The colour is in the ceramic surface beneath a thin protective finish and will not lift.

Yes. Every WenderVista tile is created in our Knoxville studio under Reid Wender's eye. We do not license imagery from other artists, and the work does not appear in any other catalogue.

— if this one stayed with you

A few you might also love.

Hand-picked by the eye that found Sorapis. Same air, same kind of quiet.