Key Information

Photographer

Frederick Spencer Chapman

Collection

Hugh E. Richardson

Date of Photo

October 18th - 21st 1936

Region

Lhasa Area

Accession number

BMR.86.1.32.1

Tibetan woman carrying water jug on her back. The water jug might be made of metal but is probably earthenware. It has been decorated with fine incised lines around the shoulder. An upturned metal water cup has been placed across the mouth of the jar. The carrying strap bearing the weight of the water jar is very strong, being made of plaited yaks wool. The woman is wearing a chuba or coat with decorative woven strips sewn around the bottom of the sleeves. She is also wearing a metal ring with a stone in the centre on the middle finger of her left hand

Further Information

Photographic Process

Print gelatin silver

Expedition

British Diplomatic Mission to Lhasa 1936-37

Photo also owned by

Donated to the British Museum in 1986 by Hugh E. Richardson

Previous Catologue Number

CD.30 [view film roll]

Related Collections

F. S. Chapman Collection in the Pitt Rivers Museum

This Image also appears in another collection

1998.131.251

Other Information

Notes on print/mount - The back of the print is covered with crop and reproduction marks including the instruction to "Cut as indicated and reduce to 3" across". This would remove the expanse of out of focus space in the right hand side of the image and centre the figure and the vessel in a much smaller frame. The number '33a' has also been written in the top left corner of the back of the print. A piece of tracing paper has been stuck onto the back of the print. This would have been used to transfer the reproduction instructions from the back to the front but it has not been used in this instance. The number C-D-30 has been written in pencil across the back of the image, which relates to the numbering system that Chapman adopted for images taken on the British Mission to Lhasa in 1936-37. [MS 11/2/2005]

Manual Catalogues -

Manual Catalogues - Caption in Chapman's hand-written list of negatives made whilst on the Mission to Lhasa, 1936-7 [See PRM Manuscripts Collection]: 'Woman carrying water-jug close up'; PRM Manuscripts Collection: ‘List of Tibetan Prints and Negatives’ - Book 4: ‘10/2 - Girl water carrier’ [MS 16/03/2006]

Other Information - Related Images

Other Information - Related Images: Images prefixed with 'CD.' comprise a group of negatives containing images of Sera monastery, Kundeling, Potala, Chakpori, swans and hoopoe, a shepherd with sling, Dekyi Lingka, stone lions outside Chinese legation and an elephant passing the Potala. They all seem to have been taken between October 18th - 21st 1936 [MS 16/03/2006]

For Citation use:
The Tibet Album. "Tibetan woman carrying water jug " 05 Dec. 2006. The British Museum. <http://tibet.prm.ox.ac.uk/photo_BMR.86.1.32.1.html>.

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Tibetan woman carrying water jug