Part of National Museums Liverpool

Photograph including the 8th Chogyal of Sikkim

50.31.140

Part of

Charles Bell collection

The Charles Bell Tibet collection of nearly 200 objects and photo albums is an important archive of the Anglo-Tibetan encounter of the early 20th century.

About this object

A large group photograph taken by Harrington and Company. At the front and centre of the photograph underneath the parasol is the eighth Chogyal (or King) Sidkyong Namgyal. His half-brother Thutob Namgyal is sitting next to him on the left. There is a large group surrounding the royal family, including unidentified Europeans and Sikkimese both lay and monastic. The photograph is badly faded in sepia tones.

Object specifics

  • Type
    Photography
  • Culture
    Sikkimese
  • Artist/Maker
    Unknown or unrecorded
  • Place made
    Asia: Southern Asia: India: West Bengal: Darjeeling
  • Date made
    1873
  • Materials
    Glass; Paper Plant; Wood
  • Location
    Item not currently on display
  • Acquisition
    From the Collection of Sir Charles Bell
  • Collector
    Charles Alfred Bell
  • Place collected
    Not recorded
  • Date collected
    1900 - 1945
  • Measurements
    347 mm x 427 mm x 17 mm; 13 11/16 in x 16 13/16 in x 11/16 in
  • Note
    Curator's note: Taken a year before Sidkyong Namgyal's death and Thutob Namgyal's succession to the throne in 1874.
    This group photograph, Darjeeling, 1873, is the earliest known photograph of a Sikkim king, the eighth Chogyal Sidkyong Namgyal who is seated directly under the umbrella.
    'In 1873, the Maharaja Sridkyong Namgyal accompanied by his brother Thutob Namgyal and their sister Tsering Putic came down to Darjeeling to meet Sir George Campbell, the Lieutenant Governor of Bengal with whom they held a most friendly conference after which they separated and came back to Sikkim, and the following year 1874 the Maharaja Sridkeong Namgyal died' (History of Sikkim: 1908). Information courtesy of Anna Balicki, Namgyal Institute of Tibetology, Gangtok, Sikkim.

    Written by Emma Martin
  • Related people
    Charles Alfred Bell (Collector); Thutob Namgyal (sitter)
Object view = Humanities
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