BMR.86.1.8.1 (Album Print black & white)
BMR.86.1.8.1 (Album Print black & white)
Frederick Spencer Chapman
Hugh E. Richardson
August 28th 1936
Lhasa > Shide Drokhang
BMR.86.1.8.1
Print gelatin silver
British Diplomatic Mission to Lhasa 1936-37
Donated to the British Museum in 1986 by Hugh E. Richardson
C.1.9 [view film roll]
F. S. Chapman Collection in the Pitt Rivers Museum
1998.131.522
Notes on print/mount - 'Rva-sgreng Regent with Sim-ga-pa' has been written beneath the image in the album in pencil, apparently not by Hugh Richardson [MS 10/06/2006]
Manual Catalogues - Caption in Chapman's hand-written list of negatives made whilst on the Mission to Lhasa, 1936-7 [See PRM Manuscripts Collection]: 'Regent sitting. Monk standing beside (in negative all R. in)'; PRM Manuscripts Collection: ‘List of Tibetan Prints and Negatives’ - Book 2: ‘26/3 - The Regent of Tibet (seated) with enormous monk attendant holding ceremonial scarves’ [MS 01/04/2006]
Research publication - Clare Harris and Tsering Shakya (eds.), 'Seeing Lhasa: British Depictions of the Tibetan Capital 1936-1947', Chicago: Serindia Publications, 2003, p.44.
Exhibition - This image appeared in the 2003 Temporary Exhibition at the Pitt Rivers "Seeing Lhasa: British Depictions of the Tibetan Capital 1936-1947" [MS 10/06/2006]
Other Information - Album: This image appears by itself on page 8 of Hugh Richardson's album 'Lhasa 1936' [MS 10/06/2006]
Other Information - Related Images: Images prefixed with 'C.1' comprise a group of negatives containing images of Gould, Prime Minister, Regent, ‘big’ monk. They seem all to have been taken on August 27th - 28th 1936, with images in the Regent's palace being taken on the latter date [MS 01/04/2006]
Other Information - Setting: The Regent of Tibet, Reting Rinpoche, (seated) with a monk attendant known to the British as “Simple Simon” standing by. Spencer Chapman describes this photographic session: “when we all went into the garden the Regent had no objection to being photographed, and it was all I could do to persuade his huge orderly (whom we nicknamed Simple Simon) to move about when I wanted to take some cinema films; he struck what he thought was an imposing attitude and resolutely refused to move.” In the 1936 Mission Diaries “Simple Simon” appears again: 28th August – Lhasa – in the morning they called upon the Regent at his home. “Neame and Chapman were allowed to take photos and cine of the Regent; amongst his attendants was a giant lama, some 7-feet high, and when Neame snapped him he began to talk and wave his arms. These were not threatening gestures as he was only asking for a copy of the photo”. [CH 2003]
Other Information - Description: "The woodwork round the windows is cleverly carved and painted in bright colours. Boxes of gay flowers stand on every window-sill protected from the sun by awnings of white cloth. Moreover the palace [Shide Drokhang] lies in a walled garden with well-kept lawns, and beds full of English flowers in luxuriant bloom. The Regent is extremely fond of pets. He has several cages full of birds, including a talking a 'mina' and a laughing thrush that makes the most fantastic noises in the middle of the most serious conversations" ['Lhasa: The Holy City', F. Spencer Chapman, London: Chatto & Windus, 1938, p. 100] [MS 01/04/2006]
For Citation use:
The Tibet Album.
"Reting Rinpoche and monk attendant"
05 Dec. 2006. The British Museum.
<http://tibet.prm.ox.ac.uk/photo_BMR.86.1.8.1.html>.
For more information about photographic usage or to order prints, please visit the The British Museum.
© The British Museum
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