Key Information

Photographer

Frederick Spencer Chapman

Collection

Hugh E. Richardson

Date of Photo

September 2nd 1936?

Named Person

Mary Taring, Pema Dolkar, Tsarong, Norbu Yudon

Region

Lhasa > Tsarong House

Accession number

BMR.86.1.16.1

Mary Taring (Rinchen Dolma, Jigme Tering's wife), Tsarong's wife Pema Dolkar (Mary's sister), Norbu Yudon (Dele Rabden's wife and Mary's sister) and Tsarong's children and others outside Tsarong's house.

Further Information

Photographic Process

Print gelatin silver

Expedition

British Diplomatic Mission to Lhasa 1936-37

Photo also owned by

Donated to the British Museum in 1986 by Hugh E. Richardson

Previous Catologue Number

C.9.1 [view film roll]

Related Collections

F. S. Chapman Collection in the Pitt Rivers Museum

This Image also appears in another collection

1998.131.480

Other Information

Notes on print/mount - 'Tsarong's House' has been written beneath the image in the album in pencil, apparently not by Hugh Richardson [MS 10/06/2006]

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]: 'Tsarong’s house Group in foreground'; PRM Manuscripts Collection: ‘List of Tibetan Prints and Negatives’ - Book 1, From Gangtok to the Natu La August 1936: ‘39/3 - Tsarong’s new house on the outskirts of Lhasa. Notice incense burner on roof and real glass in windows’ [MS 28/03/2006]

Other Information - Album: This image appears alongside three others on page 16 of Hugh Richardson's album 'Lhasa 1936' [MS 10/06/2006]

Other Information - Related Images

Other Information - Related Images: Images prefixed with 'C.9' comprise a group of negatives containing images of Tsarong’s family and his house, a Tibetan stove, preparing paint for Potala and camels. The date is not certain, but it seems most likely that these images of Tsarong and his family were taken on the occasion of the first formal visit to his house on September 2nd 1936 [MS 28/03/2006]

Other Information - Description: "The Tsarong mansion lies just beyond that of the Prime Minister, between the City and the Kyi Chu. Turning out of a flooded stretch of wasteland we entered the usual type of terraced gateway, and then found ourselves looking at the most remarkable house in Lhasa. The Tsarong mansion, like all Tibetan houses, faces south, but it looks onto a skilfully laid out garden instead of onto the traditional courtyard surrounded by lower buildings. The style is a pleasant combination of Tibetan mansion and English country house. The roof is flat, and there are incense-burners and prayer flags on it, but the windows are of the casement type and fitted throughout with glass. The door is ornamented in the best Tibetan style, but in front of it are a dozen granite steps covered with pots of flowering plants" ['Lhasa: The Holy City', F. Spencer Chapman, London: Chatto & Windus, 1938, p. 104] [MS 28/03/2006]

For Citation use:
The Tibet Album. "Tsarong's house, Lhasa" 05 Dec. 2006. The British Museum. <http://tibet.prm.ox.ac.uk/photo_BMR.86.1.16.1.html>.

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The Pitt Rivers Museum

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Tsarong's house, Lhasa