Key Information

Photographer

Rabden Lepcha

Collection

Sir Charles Bell

Date of Photo

March 3rd 1921?

Region

Lhasa

Accession number

1998.285.429

Image Dimensions

120 x 163 mm

Crowd watching a procession in Lhasa. Potala can be faintly seen in the far distance

Further Information

Photographic Process

Negative glass plate gelatin , Negative Half Plate

Date Acquired

Donated 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

Royal Central Asiatic Society

Revised Photographer

Rabden Lepcha?

Previous Catologue Number

H.400-310

Previous Pitt Rivers Museum Number

BL.H.400-310

Manual Catalogues -

Manual Catalogues - Bell's List of Illustrations entry: "[No. of chapter] LXVI. [Subject of Chapter] Festivals [Subject of Illustration] H.400-310 (a) Lhasa en fete. After the Tor-gya festival."

Other Information - Setting

Other Information - Setting: Despite Bell's caption, this image may be of the Chipgyu Chenmo procession when the Dalai Lama moved to his summer residence in the Norbu Lingka. The quality of the image may be explained by the conditions under which it was taken. At the Dalai Lama’s request Bell had some photographs taken of the procession by Rabden, but taking place in the early morning it meant that the light was too weak to produce good results [Sir Charles Bell's Diary Vol. IX, pp. 29-31]. However, Bell describes this as crowds watching a procession after the Torgya festival, in which case it would be dated to 3rd March 1921. In neither case would Bell himself have been at this spot to take the photographs [MS 23/02/2006]

For Citation use:
The Tibet Album. "Procession in Lhasa" 05 Dec. 2006. The Pitt Rivers Museum. <http://tibet.prm.ox.ac.uk/photo_1998.285.429.html>.

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Procession in Lhasa