IDNO

P.96978.WIL

Description

On Cech’s list describing print P.96978.WIL:
“(58-135 where taken in Lhasa.)
73. “Chokpo-ri and Potala from roof of Do-ring house 25.8.33”
See ww: doring” [printed text]
For more information see Cech’s list.

View of the Chokpori Hill and Potala from the roof of Do-ring’s house, with the edges of the rooftop in the foreground. [JD 19/8/2008]

Place

C Asia; Tibet; Lhasa; Chokpori Hill; Potala

Cultural Affliation

Named Person

Doring

Photographer

Williamson, Frederick

Collector / Expedition

Date

25 August 1933

Collection Name

Williamson Collection

Source

Williamson, Margaret

Format

Print Black & White

Primary Documentation

Other Information

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]

Place: Potala - “Construction of the palace began in earnest in 1645 during the reign of the great 5th Dalai Lama. By 1645 during the reign of the great 5th Dalai Lama. By 1648 the White Palace was completed. To finish the rest of the building, known as the Red Palace, the chief adviser, Desi Sangyye Gyatso, had to conceal the Dalai Lama’s death and pretend that he was in prolonged retreat. The Red Palace was completed in 1694, 12 years after the Dalai Lama’s death. The building is named after Mt. Potala in South India, one of the holy mountains of the Hindu god Shiva. The Buddhists, however, dedicated this mountain to Avalokiteshvara resides. The Potala has served as the home of successive Dalai Lamas and their monastic staff from the time of the Fifth until that of the present Dalai Lama, the 14th. From the latter half of the eigtheenth century, it has been used as a winter palace, the Norbu lingka being the place where the rulers would retreat in the summer months.” [Source: Cech’s list, JD 14/5/2008]

Place: Chakpori is “a hill to the south of the Potala Palace carved with over 5000 rock-carvings. It was famous for its medical college built in the 17th century and the monastery (Chakpori Dratsang) affiliated to it.” [Source: The Tibet Album, http://tibet.prm.ox.ac.uk/glossary.php#Chakpori, JD 16/5/2008]

Biographical Information: See Biographies File for more information on Doring. [JD 28/7/2008]

Exhibition: The album page with this print was displayed in Collected Sights in the section Tibet, Bhutan and Sikkim with the descriptive label: “One of the Williamson albums containing photographs of their time in Tibet. The open pages containing images of Lhasa including Cho-khang, the main temple, and various street scenes. View of the Himalayas and the Potala, palace of the Dalai Lama, can be seen in the distance.” [Alex Nadin 09/12/02]

This catalogue record has been updated with the support of the Getty Grant Program Two. [Jocelyne Dudding 19/8/2008]