IDNO

P.97031.WIL

Description

On Cech’s list describing prints:
“(58-135 where taken in Lhasa.)
108a-e. “Lhasa street scenes 5.9.33”
Mainly rows of two-storied [sic], terraced buildings; traders with awnings over their stalls.” [printed text]
For more information see Cech’s list.

A Lhasa street scene. At the end of the street stands a Chorten. Several traders’ awnings stand in the center of the street and along the building on the left. There are people standing under the awnings and strolling along the street.

Place

C Asia; Tibet; Lhasa

Cultural Affliation

Named Person

Photographer

Williamson, Frederick

Collector / Expedition

Date

5 September 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]

Context: A chorten (mchod-rten) is literally a ‘receptacle for offerings’. Chortens are most commonly built in memory of great religious figures, to obtain merit for a deceased person or to subjugate demons. A Buddhist chorten is always walked around in a clockwise direction, a practice which gains merit for believers. The detailed symbolism of the chorten is as follows. It is symbolic of the five elements into which a body is resolved upon death. The lowest section typifies the solidity of the earth, above it is water, the fire, air and ether. Tibetan chortens usually have elaborate plinths and above the dome-like ‘water’ section, pyramidal spires of thirteen step-like segments, typical of the thirteen Bodhisattva heavens. [Source: Cech’s list, CJ 27/8/2008]

This catalogue record has been updated with the support of the Getty Grant Program Two. [Caspian James 27/8/2008]