Tibetan woman with goitre

Tibetan woman with goitre

2001.35.284.1 (Print Black & White)

Image for comparison
spacer

Compare

Raw Image

Compare

Other Version of this Photo in Hugh E. Richardson collection

[view record]

Compare

Image in Album

[view record]

Compare

Photographer's handlist

[view record]

Compare

Other Version of this Photo in Frederick Spencer Chapman collection

[view record]

Key Information

Photographer

Frederick Spencer Chapman

Collection

Evan Yorke Nepean

Date of Photo

September 3rd 1936

Region

Lhasa Area

Accession number

2001.35.284.1

Image Dimensions

72 x 105 mm

Tibetan beggar woman with goitre sticking her tongue out in a sign of welcome.

Further Information

Photographic Process

Print silver

Date Acquired

Loaned August 2002

Donated by

Judy Goldthorp

Expedition

British Diplomatic Mission to Lhasa 1936-37

Photo also owned by

Lady Nepean

Previous Catologue Number

CS.19 In publication
'Lhasa Mission 1936, Diary of Events', P. Neame, H. Richardson, F. S. Chapman, Government of India Political Department [Note: photographs for October 18th - November 4th 1936 are not included as their relationship to text is not detailed; see Mission Diary text for details of images] [see photos in publication]

This Image also appears in another collection

BMR.86.1.43.3 1998.131.286

Other Information

Notes on print/mount - 'Goitrous beggar; The finest goitre in the world. Note tongue protruded as mark of respect; ink no: 8; pencil no: CS/19, blue no: 1A'; from an envelope marked 'Scenes from Regent's tour' [KC 14/08/2006]

Manual Catalogues -


Manual Catalogues - Caption in Chapman's hand-written list of negatives made whilst on the Mission to Lhasa, 1936-7 [See PRM Manuscripts Collection]: 'Close-up of super-goiterous old woman'; PRM Manuscripts Collection: ‘List of Tibetan Prints and Negatives’ - Book 4: ‘15/3 - Goitrous woman putting out tongue as mark of respect’ [MS 18/03/2006]

Contemporary Publication -


Contemporary Publication - This photograph was used to illustrate the official Mission Diary for October 7th 1936. [MS 18/03/2006]

Other Information - Related Images

Other Information - Related Images: Images prefixed with 'CS' comprise a group of negatives containing images of patients at Dr Morgan’s Mission hospital, Mir Khan [Mission cook], curio sellers, bookshops, street scenes, the Jokhang, willow trees and Chapman. They all seem to have been taken on September 3rd 1936 [MS 18/03/2006]

Other Information - Setting


Other Information - Setting: On September 3rd 1936 the Mission visited the Jokhang temple and Brigadier Neame comments in the Mission diary for this day that: "This trip to the city afforded an opportunity of photographing some typical street scenes, beggars etc. It is curious that although no one minds cameras being produced and photos being taken, the women are very bashful of any individual close-up shots!" ['Lhasa Mission, 1936: Diary of Events', part V p.2 , written by Philip Neame]. Interestingly, the images chosen to illustrate this day in the diary were those taken by Neame, not Chapman [MS 18/03/2006]

Other Information - Cultural Background


Other Information - Cultural Background: Sticking the tongue out as a greeting began when Buddhists wanted people to know that they were not Bon-po (pre-Buddhist religion) as they were supposed to have black tongues, so pink tongues were stuck out as proof of being Buddhist. The further the tongue was stuck out, the greater the respect. A Tibetan was severely reprimanded during the Younghusband Expedition to Tibet for doing this. [Marina de Alarcón ZF 1995.1]

For Citation use:
The Tibet Album. "Tibetan woman with goitre" 05 Dec. 2006. The Pitt Rivers Museum. <http://tibet.prm.ox.ac.uk/photo_2001.35.284.1.html>.

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

© The Pitt Rivers Museum