Key Information

Photographer

Frederick Spencer Chapman

Collection

Frederick Spencer Chapman

Date of Photo

January 1937

Region

Lhasa > Jokhang

Accession number

1998.131.347

Image Dimensions

113 x 169

Entrance to the Jokhang. Gilt decoration on roof. Yak wool awnings as sun shades. On the left, beneath a willow tree, is the Smallpox Edict pillar. The two deer on the roof of the building represent the Buddha's First Sermon at Sarnath. Pilgrims can be seen prostrating themselves before the entrance of the temple. A street lamp has been installed in front of the entrance gateway

Further Information

Photographic Process

Print gelatin silver

Date Acquired

Donated 1994

Donated by

Faith Spencer Chapman

Expedition

British Diplomatic Mission to Lhasa 1936-37

Photo also owned by

Frederick Spencer Chapman

Previous Catologue Number

7.4 [view film roll]

Previous Pitt Rivers Museum Number

SC.T.2.347

This Image also appears in another collection

BMR.86.1.16.2

Published

'Lhasa the Holy City', F. Spencer Chapman, London: Chatto and Windus, 1940 [view list of illustrations]

Other Information

Notes on print/mount - The back of the print is covered with crop and reproduction marks. The reference number '7-4' has been written on the back of the print in pencil [MS 21/03/2006]

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]: 'Cathedral front'; PRM Manuscripts Collection: ‘List of Tibetan Prints and Negatives’ - Book 2: ‘12/4 - The Cathedral (Jo Khang) in Lhasa, the holiest building in all Tibet it was built in AD 652’ [MS 21/03/2006]

Exhibition - This image appeared in the 2003 Temporary Exhibition at the Pitt Rivers "Seeing Lhasa: British Depictions of the Tibetan Capital 1936-1947"

Research publication - Clare Harris and Tsering Shakya (eds.) 'Seeing Lhasa: British Depictions of the Tibetan Capital 1936-1947' Chicago: Serindia Publications, 2003, p. 77

Other Information - Related Images

Other Information - Related Images: Images prefixed with '7' comprise a group of negatives containing images of the Potala, yaks and donkeys and the front of the Jokhang. They all seem to have been taken in January 1937 [MS 21/03/2006]

Other Information - Historical Background: The 7th century Jokhang temple is the spiritual centre of Tibet and an important pilgrimage site due to the presence of the Jo Sakyamuni (an image of the Buddha as a child). In this image we also see evidence of the modernisation of Lhasa in the form of street lamps. [CH 2003]

Other Information - Cultural Background

Other Information - Cultural Background: The Jokhang is the spiritual centre of Tibet and an important pilgrimage point. Dates from the 7th Century. [Marina de Alarc’n ZF 1995.1]

For Citation use:
The Tibet Album. "Jokhang entrance" 05 Dec. 2006. The Pitt Rivers Museum. <http://tibet.prm.ox.ac.uk/photo_1998.131.347.html>.

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