1998.131.352.1 (Print black & white)
1998.131.352.1 (Print black & white)
Frederick Spencer Chapman
Frederick Spencer Chapman
November 15th 1936
Lhasa Area > Drepung
1998.131.352.1
230 x 172
Print gelatin silver
Donated 1994
Faith Spencer Chapman
British Diplomatic Mission to Lhasa 1936-37
Frederick Spencer Chapman
C.12.17 In publication
'Lhasa Mission 1936, Diary of Events', P. Neame, H. Richardson, F. S. Chapman, Government of India Political Department [Note: photographs for October 18th - November 4th 1936 are not included as their relationship to text is not detailed; see Mission Diary text for details of images] [see photos in publication]
SC.T.2.352
'Lhasa Mission 1936, Diary of Events', P. Neame, H. Richardson, F. S. Chapman, Government of India Political Department [Note: photographs for October 18th - November 4th 1936 are not included as their relationship to text is not detailed; see Mission Diary text for details of images] [view list of illustrations]
Notes on print/mount - The back of this print is covered with crop and reproduction instructions. The caption 'Drepung Monastery - the largest mon. in the world' has been written in pencil. The reference 'C/12/17' has been written in the centre back of the image. A piece of thin paper has been stuck to the back of the print and folded over the front in order that crop marks etc. can be transferred to the front of the image. On the front the caption 'Drepung Monastery, the largest Monastery in the World' has been repeated, albeit written in a different hand [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]: 'Drepung from above'; PRM Manuscripts Collection: ‘List of Tibetan Prints and Negatives’ - Book 2: ‘13/1 - The giant monastery of Drepung which means “Pile of Rice” [listed as C.12.7 sic ]’ [MS 21/03/2006]
Other Information - Related Images: Images prefixed with 'C.12' comprise a group of negatives containing images of Ladakhi men, Ngagchen Rimpoche, Mir/Amir Khan (the mission cook), football match, Dagg, Kham dancers, Nechung, Drepung, Potala and sand track approaching it. They seem to have been taken between October 28th and November 15th 1936 [MS 21/03/2006]
Other Information - Dates: The mission diary for November 15th 1936 states: "Chapman climbed three thousand feet up the mountain overlooking Drepung in order to photograph a bird's eye view of this immense monastery, and to collect seeds of certain rare gentians and primulas which we found flowering there some weeks ago. There were many snowcock on the higher slopes; there were successfully filmed" ['Lhasa Mission, 1936: Diary of Events', Part IX p. 2, written by Chapman] [MS 21/03/2006]
Other Information - Description: "Drepung is supposed to house 7700 monks, but sometimes as many as 10,000 live there. The name Dre-pung literally means "the pile of rice", which is what the monastery resembles as its tiers of whitewashed buildings lie one behind the other on a sloping site at the head of a wedge-shaped valley. Looked at from a distance Drepung resembles a large fortified city rather than a single monastery, and it is only when one climbs the steep mountain slopes behind it and looks down on to its innumberable ramifications that one gets a true idea of its immense size. Looked at from below it is foreshortened and many of the buildings are dwarfed or hidden" ['Lhasa: The Holy City', F. Spencer Chapman, London: Chatto & Windus, 1938, p. 195] [MS 21/03/2006]
For Citation use:
The Tibet Album.
"Drepung Monastery from above"
05 Dec. 2006. The Pitt Rivers Museum.
<http://tibet.prm.ox.ac.uk/photo_1998.131.352.1.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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