BMR.86.1.62.2 (Album Print black & white)
Frederick Spencer Chapman? Major Finch?
Hugh E. Richardson
December 1936 - January 1937?
Lhasa >
BMR.86.1.62.2
Print gelatin silver
British Diplomatic Mission to Lhasa 1936-37
Donated to the British Museum in 1986 by Hugh E. Richardson
F.11 [view film roll]
F. S. Chapman Collection in the Pitt Rivers Museum
1998.131.509.1
Notes on print/mount - This page of military-related images has the general heading 'Tibetan Army' written on the bottom of the page in pencil [MS 25/08/2006]
Other Information - Album: This image appears on page 62 of the album along with three other photographs taken of the Tibetan Army, including images of different types of uniform and weapons. However, not all of them were taken at the Military Review in September 1936 [MS 25/08/2006]
Manual Catalogues - Caption in Chapman's hand-written list of negatives made whilst on the Mission to Lhasa, 1936-7 [See PRM Manuscripts Collection]: '1/2 Lhasa band and colours'; PRM Manuscripts Collection: ‘List of Tibetan Prints and Negatives’ - Book 1, From Gangtok to the Natu La August 1936: ‘28/2 - Fields of delphiniums and acconite at 11,000 on the way to Lhasa’ //PRM Manuscripts Collection: ‘List of Tibetan Prints and Negatives’ - Book 3: ‘15/3 - Tibetan band and colours’ [MS 30/03/2006]
Other Information - Setting: Although there was an official military review in September 1936 overseen by Brigadier Neame, the group of negatives from which this image was made does not seem to relate to that event. Rather, it seems more likely that this is a photograph of the band practising or participating in some other event [MS 30/03/2006]
Other Information - Photographer: Although 'F S Chapman' has been written on the back of this print, it is possible that this image was taken not by Chapman but by another photographer, possibly Major Finch, who was made the new Commander of the Gyantse escort in November 1936 and who visited Lhasa for Christmas and New Year, departing on January 2nd 1937. 'F' in this case, therefore, may refer to Major Finch, as the sequence of images suggests a very brief stay in Lhasa around the New Year period, followed by a return to Gyantse. In this case, according to the order of images taken, this image would have been taken before departing for Lhasa. Chapman asked other members of the Mission to use his additional cameras at times, and/or acquired images from them that they took for themselves to include in the Mission collection. It does not appear in the Philip Neame collection, which would be the other possibility relating to a short stay in Lhasa [MS 7/3/2005]
For Citation use:
The Tibet Album.
"Lhasa military band and colours"
05 Dec. 2006. The British Museum.
<http://tibet.prm.ox.ac.uk/photo_BMR.86.1.62.2.html>.
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