Key Information

Photographer

Lt Col R. S. Kennedy?

Collection

Sir Charles Bell

Date of Photo

March 23rd 1921?

Region

Lhasa Area

Accession number

1998.285.557

Image Dimensions

138 x 88 mm

Four two-humped camels belonging to the 13th Dalai Lama. Used by the Dalai Lama to ride between Mongolia and Lhasa on his return in 1909

Further Information

Photographic Process

Negative glass plate gelatin , Copy Negative

Date Acquired

Donated in 1983

Donated by

St. Antony’s College, Oxford

Copy difference

Copy Neg

Expedition

Sir Charles Bell's Mission to Lhasa 1920-21

Photo also owned by

The Royal Central Asiatic Society

Revised Photographer

Kennedy or Tibetan photographer?

Previous Catologue Number

P.436

Previous Pitt Rivers Museum Number

BL.P.436

Related Collections

British Library, Oriental and India Office Collections

Manual Catalogues -

Manual Catalogues - Bell's List of Illustrations entry: "[No. of chapter] XLIII. [Subject of Chapter] The Fauna. [Subject of illustration] P.436 (gl) (a) Mongolian camels in Lhasa belonging to the Dalai Lama. [Where placed - book page] I,148"

Other Information - Photographer: Bell took photographs of the Dalai Lama's camels when in Lhasa as he states in his diary for March 23rd 1921: "We met the Dalai Lama's camels (3A photos taken), including one standing by itself on the embankment of one of the dry river channels; this one (photo taken 3A) is the camel which the Dalai Lama rode between Mongolia and Lhasa on his return in 1909. It is known as the 'Spirit of Abundance,' or 'Lord of Wealth' (Dzam-ba Lha)". However, '3A' refers to his use of a Kodak 3A camera in which he used quarter-plate sized negatives. This image, therefore, may have been taken by Lt Col Robert Kennedy who was part of the Mission in 1920-21 [MS 1/6/2004]

Other Information - Related Images

Other Information - Related Images: Although Bell states in his List of Illustrations that this image was published in Tibet Past & Present (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1924), in fact a slightly different image, for which there is no negative in the PRM Collection, was used [MS 9/9/2004]

For Citation use:
The Tibet Album. "Camel ridden by Dalai Lama on return to Lhasa in 1909" 05 Dec. 2006. The Pitt Rivers Museum. <http://tibet.prm.ox.ac.uk/photo_1998.285.557.html>.

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