1998.286.210 (Glass negative)
1998.286.210 (Glass negative)
Sir Charles Bell or Rabden Lepcha?
Sir Charles Bell
September 22nd 1921
Lhasa > Lukhang
1998.286.210
78 x 103
Negative Quarter Plate
Donated 1983
St Antony's College, Oxford
Sir Charles Bell's Mission to Lhasa 1920-21
Q.197
BL.Q.197
British Library, Oriental and India Office Collections
Manual Catalogues - Bell's List of Illustrations entry: "[No. of chapter] XLII. [Subject of Chapter] The Flora [Subject of Illustration] Q197 (l). Willows in Lu-kang grounds; poplar tree on right."
Other Information - Dates: This photograph may have been taken on September 22nd 1921 as Bell wrote in his diary for that day only on the is the temple opened to the public - to visit at any other time than the 15th day of the 4th Tibetan month requires the special permission of the Dalai Lama [Diary Vol. XIII, pp. 1-5]
Other Information - Cultural Background: Bell's Diary entry for 9th June:"There are two kinds of poplar trees in Lhasa; one like the kind at Gyantse; the other different to any poplar in Gyantse, the Chumbi Valley or Sikkim. The wood of the second kind somewhat resembles that of the poplar in Sikkim and the Chumbi Valley but the leaves are smaller and shaped more like the leaves of a maple. This kind is called "White Poplar" ( ja - kar ) [Tibetan script] in Lhasa. // It is used for house pillars, though soft, because it is easily carved with the designs appropriate to such pillars. Neto Jongpen thinks it is indigenous to Tibet, for he says the wood is rather poor and it would not have been worthwhile to introduce it from China or elsewhere. I do not remember to have seen it anywhere in India." [Diary Vol. XI., p.1]
Other Information - Setting: Bell's diary for 29th July 1921:" Lhack-cho orderly, one of my Tibetan orderlies, calls the weeping willow "Sorrow Tree" ( Nyan-gen shing ). Many of the people believe that when the 5th D[alai] L[ama] died, the branches of the weeping willows bent down and have bent down ever since. Formerly they stood up." [Diary Vol. XI, p.64]
For Citation use:
The Tibet Album.
"Grounds of Lukhang, Lhasa"
05 Dec. 2006. The Pitt Rivers Museum.
<http://tibet.prm.ox.ac.uk/photo_1998.286.210.html>.
For more information about photographic usage or to order prints, please visit the The Pitt Rivers Museum.
© The Pitt Rivers Museum
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