2001.35.327.1 (Print Black & White)
2001.35.327.1 (Print Black & White)
Frederick Spencer Chapman
Evan Yorke Nepean
August 20th 1936
Yamdrok Tso Region
2001.35.327.1
105 x 80 mm
Print silver
Loaned August 2002
Judy Goldthorp
British Diplomatic Mission to Lhasa 1936-37
Lady Nepean
CP.12 [view film roll]
1998.131.195
Notes on print/mount - 'Devil trap on pass; ink no: 98; pencil no: CP/12; blue no: 17'; from an envelope marked 'Scenes around Lhasa and the Norbhu Lingka = Jewel Park, the summer palace'. [KC 14/08/2006]
Manual Catalogues - Caption in Chapman's hand-written list of negatives made whilst on the Mission to Lhasa, 1936-7 [See PRM Manuscripts Collection]: 'Ditto [Ghost scarer against sky] less up in air'; PRM Manuscripts Collection: ‘List of Tibetan Prints and Negatives’ - Book 1, From Gangtok to the Natu La August 1936: ‘“Ghost traps” on a ridge beside a pass to catch evil spirits’ [MS 13/03/2006]
Other Information - Related Images: Images prefixed with 'CP.' seem to have been taken en route to Lhasa in August 1936, particularly between Yamdrok Tso and Singma Kang Chung. Other images in Chapman's list identify this 'ghost scarer' as being sited near to Yamdrok lake. These images comprise a group of negatives containing images of the route to Lhasa including rock paintings, this ‘ghost scarer’, environs of Nyapsu La, Singma, boats on the Tsangpo, birds and flowers. The list is referred to as ‘P’ in Chapman’s papers, but all the images were prefixed ‘CP’ in the draft album and related prints in the Pitt Rivers Museum collection are also annotated as ‘CP’. However, they are different to those referenced as 'C.P' in the Mission Diary written by Hugh Richardson around the period 16th - 18th September, suggesting that a different system was initially in use [MS 13/03/2006]
Other Information - Cultural Background: ELABORATE thread cross . C hapman calls this a 'Ghost-trap to catch evil spirits' . These Thread Crosses Were Usually Constructed When Someone Was Ill Or Some Misfortune Had Struck A Family . Little Images Of Dough (representing Different Deities) Were Incorporated Into The Tread Contraption . A Lama Would Then Invoke The Evil Spirit Causing The Damage To Enter The Appropriate Image Where It Would Be Symbolically Trapped By The Threads . Then The Whole Construction Would Be Carried Away From The Village Where Misfortune Had Struck And Placed At A Specific Point (often A Crossroads) . Eventually, After The Bad Luck Had Ceased (or Sometimes Before) It Was Burnt At A Special Ceremony . [Marina de Alarcón ZF 1995.1]
Other Information - Cultural Background: This is La Tho for propitiating the spirit of this place. People hang prayer flags or khatak to appease the spirit. These structures are often built in places where accidents are likely to happen and may originate from simple cairns where people have placed rocks. The upright structures are associated with offerings that have been made to the spirit [TS 20/1/2005]
For Citation use:
The Tibet Album.
"Structure, La Tho, used to make offerings to spirits"
05 Dec. 2006. The Pitt Rivers Museum.
<http://tibet.prm.ox.ac.uk/photo_2001.35.327.1.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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