1998.131.331 (Print black & white)
Raw Image
Reverse
Frederick Spencer Chapman
Frederick Spencer Chapman
December 24th 1936?
Lhasa > Norbu Lingka >
1998.131.331
163 x 220
Print gelatin silver
Donated 1994
Faith Spencer Chapman
British Diplomatic Mission to Lhasa 1936-37
Frederick Spencer Chapman
C.20.10 [view film roll]
SC.T.2.331
BMR.86.1.4.2
Notes on print/mount - There a number of crop marks and reproduction instructions written on the back of the print in pencil. Also written in pencil is the reference number 'C-20-10' [MS 21/03/2006]
Manual Catalogues - Caption in Chapman's hand-written list of negatives made whilst on the Mission to Lhasa, 1936-7 [See PRM Manuscripts Collection]: 'Long. Top throne with DL’s image [Norbu Lingka]'; PRM Manuscripts Collection: ‘List of Tibetan Prints and Negatives’ - Book 2: ‘9/4 - A life size image of the Dalai Lama in a palace of the Norbhu Lingka’ [MS 21/03/2006]
Other Information - Related Images: Images prefixed with 'C.20' comprise a group of images taken at a ceremony at the Jokhang and in the Norbu Lingka. The images from the Jokhang are not in the PRM collection, but it is possible to date these to December 24th 1936. It seems likely that Chapman may have made a visit to the Norbu Lingka on the same day to take some further images of the interior there. They seem almost certainly to have been taken in the week before January 1937 [MS 18/03/2006]
Other Information - Description: "In one room [of the Norbu Lingka], which had a floor of polished wooden blocks, was a life-size image of the Dalai Lama himself, mitred and swathed in rich vestments like a bishop, sitting on a throne with a silken canopy above his head. The walls of these newer palaces were completely covered in paintings, many of them topical, the work of Chinese artists. There were paddle steamers crossing lakes, a crowd of people traversing an arched stone bridge, as well as birds, animals, and flowers" ['Lhasa: The Holy City', F. Spencer Chapman, London: Chatto & Windus, 1938, p. 185] [MS 21/03/2006]
For Citation use:
The Tibet Album.
"Image of Dalai Lama, Norbu Lingka"
05 Dec. 2006. The Pitt Rivers Museum.
<http://tibet.prm.ox.ac.uk/photo_1998.131.331.html>.
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