1998.131.543 (Print black & white)
1998.131.543 (Print black & white)
Frederick Spencer Chapman? Unknown photographer
Frederick Spencer Chapman
February 13th 1937
Lhasa > Potala
1998.131.543
144 x 105
Ritual Activity
Print gelatin silver
Donated 1994
Mrs Faith Spencer Chapman
British Diplomatic Mission to Lhasa 1936-37
Frederick Spencer Chapman
SC.T.2.543
Notes on print/mount - The print has been made on Agfa Brovira paper. The number '5' has been written on the back of the print in pencil [MS 02/04/2006]
Other Information - Photographer: This image might not have been taken by Chapman as it does not relate to any images that are in his handlist. All the photographs printed out on Agfa Brovira paper on this occasion, all of which have been taken with a telephoto lens, have a similar status. It may be, therefore, that another photographer took these images. Tsarong Dzaza accompanied Chapman to the Potala on this day and, as a keen photographer, it might even be the case that he took these images, although further evidence is required [MS 02/04/2006]
Other Information - Related Images: This photograph matches exactly the lower portion of this scene as seen in 1998.131.541. It seems that a smaller image was enlarged as two separate images, this image then being cut to fit the top [MS 02/04/2006]
Other Information - Description: Mission Diary entry for February 13th 1937: "Soon after midday all the officials came down the wide southern steps of the Potala to see the pole trick. All the morning the people of Lhasa have been assembling to see this acrobatic feat, the performance of which is a tax annually imposed upon different villages of Tibet. By midday several thousand people have collected. On the flat top of a neighbouring roof are a group of ladies of quality dressed in sombre coloured silk robes ... Sitting on the ample steps of the Potala are the poorer people ... // Suddenly there is a stir above and a couple of men come rushing down the steps dragging by its legs the carcass of a yak with its sharp-horned head swinging from side to side and effectively clearing a way for the officials, some of whom, having seen this performance many times before, ride away through the crowd. At the foot of the steps a crazy looking pole held together with yak-hide thongs has bee erected. It is about fifty feet in height. All at once there is a hush, and a man looking and probably feeling singularly like a sacrifice is swung astride a rope preparatory to being hauled up to the top. While he is only just above the heads of the crowds he starts chanting, and drinks a cup of tea which is handed up to him. On the summit of the pole is a small platform, on which there is just room to stand, and a vertical rod of iron. To begin with the man, chanting all the time, stands for a moment on the platform, but a strong wind makes this precarious and he is obviously not too confident. Then, tying a bobbin-shaped piece of wood on to his stomach, he fits this over the top of the metal rod and starts to spin round and round. After he has repeated this several times he is allowed to return to terra firma where he bows down three times and offers thanks that his ordeal is safely over" ['Lhasa Mission, 1936: Diary of Events', Part XIV p. 5, written by Chapman] [MS 02/04/2006]
For Citation use:
The Tibet Album.
"Pole at Namdrotagtse ceremony by Potala"
05 Dec. 2006. The Pitt Rivers Museum.
<http://tibet.prm.ox.ac.uk/photo_1998.131.543.html>.
For more information about photographic usage or to order prints, please visit the The Pitt Rivers Museum.
© The Pitt Rivers Museum
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