IDNO

P.97069.WIL

Description

On Cech’s list describing prints:
“(58-135 where taken in Lhasa.)
125. “Ladies Party 19.9.33”
125c. Various ladies in all their finery; good rear views of their jewelled head-dresses (see GTH: Tibet: Aristocracy - female dress).
See ww: Tsarong, Mary, Kunga, Norbhu, Samdup
mpow: 118” [printed text]
For more information see Cech’s list.

A ladies party in the garden of Dekyilingka. Several small groups of women stand talking to one another. Margaret Williamson can be seen in the background. On the right is a table loaded with food and drink.

The women all wear long sleeve-less gowns (chuba) and silk blouses, over which they wear horizontally striped aprons. They all wear the official Lhasa-style Y-shaped headdresses decorated with corals and pearls.

Place

C Asia; Tibet; Lhasa; Dekyi Lingka

Cultural Affliation

Named Person

Mrs Tsarong (Pema Dolkar); Mary (Rinchen Dolma Tering)

Photographer

Williamson, Frederick

Collector / Expedition

Date

19 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]

Place: “Dekyilingka [was] the house in Lhasa lent to the British Mission by Kundeling monastery which served as the headquarters of the 1936 British Mission to Lhasa. Dekyilingka translates as the 'Happy Garden'”. [Source: http://tibet.prm.ox.ac.uk/glossary.php, CJ 22/08/2008]

Biographical Information: For further information on Mary see the Biographies File. [CJ 3/9/2008]

Bibliographical Reference: Margaret Williamson notes “The ladies’ party was held on the 19 September and was attended by twenty-three Lhasa ladies and about a dozen children who for some reason or other had been unable to come to the children’s party. The ladies looked most picturesque in their colourful clothes and exquisite jewellery. Most of them wore their hair in the Lhasa style, built up into two pinnacles on a triangular frame decorated with seed pearls and corals. One or two, however, sported the Gyantse style, which is more elaborate, incorporating a semi-circular hoop with various parts, again all decorated with pearls and corals. While it looked most regal, one could not help feeling that it must also be most uncomfortable to wear! We began with a cinema show and then Pinjo laid on a sumptuous tea. Lhasa ladies used only to mix in very restricted circles and so this occasion was a great novelty; it allowed them to meet and talk with others whom they would never in the normal course of things have an opportunity to meet. They all appeared to enjoy themselves immensely and many came to call on me later.” [Source: p.118 Memoirs of a Political Officer’s Wife in Tibet, Sikkim and Bhutan by Margaret D. Williamson, Wisdom Publications, 1987. CJ 3/9/2008]

Clothing: “Women wore long sleeve-less gowns (chuba) and silk blouses. Over this they wore aprons striped horizontally with red, green, yellow and white, the top corners of which were of heavily flowered gold braid. Only married women wore aprons. The main jewellery comprised an amulet box (ga’u) suspended from a necklace. These contained charms written on a piece of paper which is folded, covered with cloth and bound with coloured threads arranged in a geometrical pattern. Amulet boxes were frequently ornamented with turquoises, rubies and diamonds and hung from necklaces of coral and agate beads. On official occasions they wore either Y-shaped or hoop-shaped headdresses (depending on whether you were a Lhasa or a Gyantse/Shigatse noblewoman, respectively). The size and number of corals, pearls and turquoises decorating these headdresses would be determined by the wealth of the woman’s family. In the case of the Lhasa headdress, it was attached to a specially constructed ‘horn’ shaped structure incorporating the woman’s own hair and false hair-pieces.” [Source: Cech’s list, JD 15/5/2008]

Publication: Duplicate image published alongside P.97070.WIL in MAA's Digital Lab blog 'A Ceremonial Cup of Tea', 20 June 2023, and captioned: "Figures 14 and 15. Left – A ladies party in the garden of Dekyilingka (now the Dekyiling Tibetan settlement in Dehradun, India). Several small groups of women stand talking to one another and Margaret can be seen in the background. Photographed by Frederick Williamson. MAA N.103774.WIL. Right – Invitees to the ladies’ party in Lhasa, Tibet seated at tea. Photographed by Margaret Williamson. MAA P.97070.WIL. Donated by Margaret Williamson. Williamson Collection." [Source: https://www.maadigitallab.org/blog/2023/06/20/a-ceremonial-cup-of-tea/, JD 10/07/2023]

This catalogue record has been updated with the support of the Getty Grant Program Two. [Caspian James 3/9/2008]