Key Information

Photographer

H. Staunton ?

Collection

Harry Staunton

Date of Photo

February - March 1940

Named Person

14th Dalai Lama's mother

Region

Lhasa > Dekyi Lingka

Accession number

1999.23.1.27.1

Image Dimensions

119 x 89 mm

The Dalai Lama's mother and children at the Dekyi Lingka on the occasion of a children's party hosted by the British Mission. They are standing outside the house in the garden and there are tents in the background. The Dalai Lama's mother, Sonam Tsomo, known as Gyayum Chenmo (the Great Mother) is wearing a silk robe fashioned in the Amdo style. The children are from aristocratic families and are wearing silk robes.

Further Information

Photographic Process

Print gelatin silver

Date Acquired

Donated 1999

Donated by

Diana Hughes

Expedition

H. Staunton

Photo also owned by

Diana Hughes

Other Information

Notes on album mount - "Children's party at British Mission" is written on the album page (p.27) as a general caption for all four photogrsaphs on that page. [KC 6/1/2006]

Other Information - Setting

Other Information - Setting: Basil Gould writes about the children's party in The Jewel in the Lotus , 1957, London: Chatto and Windus, "Some days later, grown-ups still being busy with ceremonies, we gave a children's party. Among the first to arrive was the family of the Dalai Lama ... But all the time the Dalai Lama's brother's and sister-in-law had been saving up crackers and balloons and toys for the Dalai Lama and they went off happy with a parcel of things in the uses of which they soon instructed him." (p.232)

For Citation use:
The Tibet Album. "Guests including Dalai Lama's mother at children's party " 05 Dec. 2006. The Pitt Rivers Museum. <http://tibet.prm.ox.ac.uk/photo_1999.23.1.27.1.html>.

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