Convict beggars in Gyantse

Convict beggars in Gyantse

BMH.E.85.1 (Film negative)

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Key Information

Photographer

Arthur Hopkinson

Collection

A. J. Hopkinson

Date of Photo

December 31st 1927

Region

Gyantse >

Accession number

BMH.E.85.1

Image Dimensions

85 x 109

Three convicts in Gyantse begging for alms. Hopkinson commented in his journal for this day that they proved difficult to photograph because they kept laughing. Joists of a doorway in the monastery compound of Palkhor Chode can be seen in the background. A small child watches the photographer in the lower left corner of the image

Further Information

Photographic Process

Negative film nitrate

Expedition

A. J. Hopkinson's Tour of Duty as British Trade Agent, Gyantse, 1927-28

Manual Catalogues -

Manual Catalogues - [Caption in A. J. Hopkinson's negative album 'Tibet E']: 'Convicts - looking miserable' [MS 04/05/2006]

[Caption in A. J. Hopkinson's negative album 'Tibet C']: '83 to 85 - beggars and criminals. In 83 the line-up is two murderers and one robber; in 84 and 85 they stand together with their tongues out in polite greeting' [MS 29/07/2006]

Other Information - Dates


Other Information - Dates: For dating of image, see A. J. Hopkinson Archive, OIOC British Library, Mss Eur D998/54, Journal Letters from Gyantse and Various Camps, 1927-28, commencing December 30th 1927, Gyantse, pages 4-5 [MS 31/07/2006]

Other Information - Dates


Other Information - Dates: This photograph was probably taken on December 31st 1927. On this day Hopkinson commented in his journal that his ponies had to be rested and “so I went photographing round Gyantse ... some people came up and asked me to go into their house to photo them. ... I was amused to find the walls papered by 1927 Weekly times editions - bought they said at the Fort. Also there was a photo of a Tibetan who’d been to England, got up in cowboy style, with chaps, on a huge artificial horse this shape [line drawing inserted in text]. I also photod [ sic ] some rather jungly Kham-bas, going on pilgrimage from Kham via Lhassa to Shigatse. It took three months they said from Kham to Lhassa, and they expected me to produce the picture immediately I had pressed the button” [A. J. Hopkinson Archive, OIOC British Library, Mss Eur D998/54, Journal Letters from Gyantse and Various Camps, 1927-28, commencing December 30th 1927, Gyantse, pages 4-5]. Also comments that he tried to photograph some criminals, who kept laughing and was accompanied on the way back by a young monk from Drepung [ibid., p. 5]

For Citation use:
The Tibet Album. "Convict beggars in Gyantse" 05 Dec. 2006. The British Museum. <http://tibet.prm.ox.ac.uk/photo_BMH.E.85.1.html>.

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