Key Information

Photographer

Frederick Spencer Chapman

Collection

Hugh E. Richardson

Date of Photo

March 1937?

Region

Chumbi Valley Region > Gautsa

Accession number

BMR.86.1.45.2

Three partly painted bronzes of Gelugpa lamas in Gautsa Monastery. Behind the statues repeating images of Buddha can be seen on the wall fresco. The images are placed upon wooden chests, which have been painted decoratively. Two shelves can be seen on the right and left side walls of the alcove containing the images. The shelf on the left has a textile cushion on top, whilst that on the right has been highly decorated. A box can be seen in the left hand corner of the alcove with a bowl on top containing khatak or offering scarves. All the images have had white offering scarves draped over their hands. A piece of discoloured cloth can be seen on the extreme right of the image

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

H.17 [view film roll]

Related Collections

F. S. Chapman Collection in the Pitt Rivers Museum

This Image also appears in another collection

1998.131.212

Other Information

Notes on print/mount - 'In Potala' has been written beneath the image in the album in pencil, apparently not by Hugh Richardson. This is incorrect - the images seem to have been taken in Gautsa [see below] [MS 25/08/2006]

Other Information - Album: This image appears alongside 3 others of religious objects on page 45 of Hugh Richardson's album 'Lhasa 1936' [MS 25/08/2006]

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]: '1/2 3 images at Gautsa'; PRM Manuscripts Collection: ‘List of Tibetan Prints and Negatives’ - Book 2: ‘20/1 - Images in monastery with holy scarves placed over them’ [MS 12/03/2006]

Other Information - Related Images

Other Information - Related Images: A group of negatives prefixed with 'H' that contain images of the route from Lhasa including Phari, Gautsa, Gyantse, all of which seem to have been taken in late February - early March 1937 [MS 10/03/2006]

Other Information - The greater the number of images of the Buddha represented, the greater the jinlap , which denotes blessings and auspiciousness which accrue to visitors to this place [TS 1/2/2005]

For Citation use:
The Tibet Album. "Images in Gautsa monastery" 05 Dec. 2006. The British Museum. <http://tibet.prm.ox.ac.uk/photo_BMR.86.1.45.2.html>.

For more information about photographic usage or to order prints, please visit the The British Museum.

The Pitt Rivers Museum

The British Museum

Images in Gautsa monastery