1998.131.407 (Print black & white)
1998.131.407 (Print black & white)
Frederick Spencer Chapman
Frederick Spencer Chapman
January 1st 1937
Lhasa > Dekyi Lingka
1998.131.407
113 x 159
Print gelatin silver
Donated 1994
Faith Spencer Chapman
British Diplomatic Mission to Lhasa 1936-37
Frederick Spencer Chapman
C.15.22 [view film roll]
SC.T.2.407
Notes on print/mount - The back of the print is covered with crop and reproduction marks. The partial reference number 'C.15' has been written on the back in pencil and it has thus been possible to identify this image as 'C.15.22' in Chapman's list of negatives by cross-referencing with related images in the PRM collection. The caption 'The Everest Permit' has also been written on the back of the print in pencil [MS 23/03/2006]
Manual Catalogues - Caption in Chapman's hand-written list of negatives made whilst on the Mission to Lhasa, 1936-7 [See PRM Manuscripts Collection]: 'Everest permit'; PRM Manuscripts Collection: ‘List of Tibetan Prints and Negatives’ - Book 3: ‘33/3 - Close up of permit and seals with silk staff in which it was wrapped’ [MS 23/03/2006]
Other Information - Setting: "To celebrate New Year's Day we invited the following to a luncheon party: the Prime Minister; the four Shappes - or Cabinet Ministers - Langchunga, Bhondong, Tendong and Kalon Lama; the Yapshi Kung, or Grand Duke: Tsarong Dzaza, and Chikyap Khempo, the head of the Ecclesiastical party. ... On arrival the first act of the Cabinet was to hand to Norbhu a sealed packet made of coarse Tibetan paper, together with the customary white silk scarf of greeting. This turned out to be the permission for an Everest Expedition in 1938. The Cabinet had been considering the question for some weeks and it struck us as an act of the greatest courtesy to hand over the permit so unostentatiously as a New Year's present" ['Lhasa Mission, 1936: Diary of Events', Part XII p.1 , written by Chapman] [MS 23/03/2006]
Other Information - Related Images: Images prefixed with 'C.15.' seem to have been taken over a relatively long period from November 26th to January 7th. This may have been because Chapman was running out of quarter plate film at this point because the only other images he took using this film type appear to have been of the interior of the Norbhu Lingka, the Potala and ceremonies at the Jokhang. However, on December 20th he comments that "something is wrong with the 1/4 plate camera" [1938: 294], which may have influenced his use of it. Images with prefix 'C.15' comprise a group of negatives containing images of threshing barley, Regent’s house, ferry near Dekyi Lingka and panoramic views of environs, mummers, Norbu Lingka, paper chase, tea at football match, Everest permit, Khampa people. This collection of images is headed with the title of ‘Rural Pursuits’ and it seems that Chapman may originally have intended to use this box of negatives whilst seeking out scenes such as threshing barley. However, this objective seems to have passed as the negatives were used, as a wider variety of images than this title suggests were taken. This may also reflect the limitations of access to such scenes in and around the mission compound in the Dekyi Lingka and the constraints upon the photographic agenda of the mission [MS 13/03/2006]
For Citation use:
The Tibet Album.
"Everest permit"
05 Dec. 2006. The Pitt Rivers Museum.
<http://tibet.prm.ox.ac.uk/photo_1998.131.407.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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