IDNO

P.96966.WIL

Description

Group portrait of Dingcha [also spelt Dingja] wearing a Tibetan military uniform, Sonam Dela Rabden, a former student of Frank Ludlow’s school in Gyantse, and George Tsarong (also known as Dudul [Dundul] Namgyal), the only son of Tsarong Dzasa. Both Sonam and Dudul wear long plain chuba robes with extended sleeves to cover their hands. While Dingcha and Dundul have the traditional long hair, Sonam has short hair from a military haircut. The group are standing in the grounds of Tsarong’s House in Lhasa. [JD 30/5/2008]

On Cech’s list describing prints:
“(58-135 where taken in Lhasa.)
65. “At Tsarong’s house 22.8.33”
65a. “Sonam, Dundul, Ding-cha”
See ww: Tsarong, Sonam, Dundul, Ding-cha, jigme, norbhu, kunga, samdup” [printed text]
For more information see Cech’s list.

Place

C Asia; Tibet; Lhasa

Cultural Affliation

Named Person

Sonam Dela Rabden; George Tsarong (also known as Dudul (Dundul) Namgyal); Dingcha (Dingja) (also known as Dorji Gyaltsen)

Photographer

Williamson, Frederick

Collector / Expedition

Date

22 August 1933

Collection Name

Williamson Collection

Source

Williamson, Margaret

Format

Print Black & White

Primary Documentation

Other Information

Place: Tsarong had a house at Lhasa, which Margaret Williamson described as:
“We were entertained at Tsarong house itself, which put me in mind of an English country house with its drive bordered with hollyhocks. ...
Tsarong House had many Western-style appointments. There was a brass bedstead in the master bedroom; and the main staircase was fairly substantial, in contrast to the rickety ladder that served in most Tibetan households. The bathroom too, did not have the usual hole in the floor but had Western fittings; and there was a large table and real chairs in the dining-room. The house was not only large but unusually clean and airy for a Tibetan house, many of which were rather dark. Tsarong house even had glass in the windows. Another surprise was when I was offered ‘real’ tea and biscuits. Then I felt truly at home.
The gardens at Tsarong House were also impressive. The soil and climate of Lhasa are excellent, and not only can up to three crops a year be obtained but the size of everything is quite remarkable. There were marvellous caulifloowers, cabbages, onions, carrots, lettuces, radishes and turnips that would have easily have won first prizes at any English country show.” [Source: Williamson, Margaret, 1987. Memoirs of a Political Officer’s Wife (Wisdom Publication, London) pp.108 -109, JD 27/5/2008]

Place: Frederick Spencer Chapman also visited Tsarong’s House and described it as follows:
“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] [Source: The Tibet Album, http://tibet.prm.ox.ac.uk, JD 28/5/2008]

Biographical Information: See Biographies Database for a listing on Sonam. [JD 27/5/2008]

Biographical Information: See Biographies Database for a listing on Ding-cha. [JD 27/5/2008]

Biographical Information: See Biographies Database for a listing on George Dudul. [JD 27/5/2008]

Bibliographical Reference: Noted in Williamson, Margaret, 1987. Memoirs of a Political Officer’s Wife (Wisdom Publication, London) p. 106 is the following:
“We also met boys who had been educated by Frank Ludlow at the short-lived English-type school set up in Gyantse in 1923. One of them, Sonam Dela Rabden, who was about twenty-five and rather shy, had lately been commissioned in the army but, quickly growing disenchanted with military life, had brought myself out after only fifteen days. He had had to have some long locks shorn but rather liked his new haircut and promised us that he intended to keep it when he got back to his family estate near Shigatse.” [JD 27/5/2008]

The transcription of this album by Mark Turin and Sara Shneiderman was carried out with reference to Krystina Cech’s catalogue list alone. Alex Nadin has since revised their cataloguing by systematically matching their records to the images. Margaret Williamson’s handwritten captions for photographs have now been transcribed into the Inscription field, and Cech’s descriptions appear in the Description field. Correct entries for Place, Named Person and Other Nos. have also been entered by Alex Nadin. [Sudeshna Guha 29/10/2002]

This catalogue record has been updated with the support of the Getty Grant Program Two. [Jocelyne Dudding 28/5/2008]