Smallpox edict pillar, Lhasa
1998.286.23.1 (Glass negative)
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Key Information
Photographer
Sir Charles Bell or Rabden Lepcha?
Collection
Sir Charles Bell
Date of Photo
1920-1921
Region
Lhasa > Jokhang > Smallpox Doring
Accession number
1998.286.23.1
Image Dimensions
80 x 103
Further Information
Activity
Administration
Photographic Process
Negative Quarter Plate
Date Acquired
Donated 1983
Donated by
St Antony's College, Oxford
Copy difference
Varnish Intensifier Lantern Notches on right side
Expedition
Sir Charles Bell's Mission to Lhasa 1920-21
Previous Catologue Number
Q.21
Previous Pitt Rivers Museum Number
BL.Q.21a
Related Collections
British Library, Oriental and India Office Collections
Manual Catalogues -
Manual Catalogues - Bell's List of Illustrations entry: "[No. of chapter] IV. [Subject of Chapter] History up to 1900 [Subject of Illustration] Q.21 (j). Ditto in summer, 2 views [ref: Q.20 - Smallpox edict near Tsuk La-Kang, in winter, containing instructions for segregation during smallpox epidemics]. [Remarks] L.26"
In Negative - It is not clear whether it is a clear (but now yellowing) varnish which has been applied to the negative or whether the negative has been subjected to an intensifying process. [MS 4/8/2004]
Other Information - Related Images
Other Information - Related Images: Bell does not distinguish in his List of Illustrations between 1998.286.23 and 1998.286.24 and both may be referenced by his caption for Q.21 [MS 4/8/2004]
Other Information - Cultural Background
Other Information - Cultural Background: Bell's diary for 29th July 1921:" Lhack-cho orderly, one of my Tibetan orderlies, calls the weeping willow "Sorrow Tree" ( Nyan-gen shing ). Many of the people believe that when the 5th D[alai] L[ama] died, the branches of the weeping willows bent down and have bent down ever since. Formerly they stood up." [Diary Vol. XI, p.64]
Other Information - Cultural Background
Other Information - Cultural Background: Bell's diary for 30th July 1921:" Per Tsendron "The weeping willow trees are called 'Chinese willows' ( Gya chang ). Since the 5th D[alai] L[ama]'s death all the trees and flowers have drooped a little. The Cho U-tra over the Small Pox Edict in Lhasa, is a Chinese willow." [diary Vol. XI, p.65]
Other Information - Manual Catalogues: Curatorial notes in an old photocopied version of Bell's List of Illustrations state under the caption for Q.21 "(Tree of sorrow on env [envelope])". This suggests that when the negatives came into the PRM they were in envelopes. If this image is also intended to identify a 'Tree of Sorrow' in the courtyard, this could explain why the site was re-photographed either to capture the tree in foliage or to reveal the Doring beneath the tree when the leaves had fallen [MS 4/8/2004]
For Citation use:
The Tibet Album.
"Smallpox edict pillar, Lhasa"
05 Dec. 2006. The Pitt Rivers Museum.
<http://tibet.prm.ox.ac.uk/photo_1998.286.23.1.html>.
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