IDNO

P.97010.WIL

Description

On Cech’s list describing prints:
“(58-135 where taken in Lhasa.)
98. “Entrance to Kashag’s office” [25.8.33]. [printed text].
For more information see Cech’s list.

A view of the entrance of the Kashag (Cabinet) building. In the foreground are several curious Tibetans looking at the camera.

Place

S Asia; Tibet; Lhasa

Cultural Affliation

Named Person

Photographer

Williamson, Frederick

Collector / Expedition

Date

25 August 1933

Collection Name

Williamson Collection

Source

Williamson, Margaret

Format

Print Black & White

Primary Documentation

Other Information

Transcription: 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]

Related Image: On Cech’s list describing prints:
“(58-135 where taken in Lhasa.)
98. “Entrance to Kashag’s office 25.8.33”.” [printed text]
For more information see Cech’s list.

Context: “[The Kashag was] the highest government office beneath the regent and lonchen [(prime minister)] ... [and] consisted of four shapes, three of whom were lay officials and one monk official. [It] was the administrative center of the Tibetan government ... [and] ultimately received all secular information - requests, telegrams, and the like - sorted them, and then sent each item to the appropriate office or official for examination. It was often referred to as the throat between the head (the ruler) and the body (the other secular offices). It could decide which requests to respond to (either by acting itself or by sending the request to the ruler) and could alter recommendations from lower offices. No secular matter could reach the ruler without going through the Kashag, and the Kashag’s seal was required for most formal orders of the government. In addition, it normally initiated surveys, investigations, and new policies and submitted recommendations for promotions and demotions for lay officials to the ruler.” [Source: A History of Modern Tibet, 1913-1951: The Demise of the Lamaist State By Melvyn C. Goldstein, Gelek Rimpoche. Published by University of California Press, 1991, CJ 19/08/2008]

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