Add.Or.3013-3043 6 large picture maps of Tibet and 25 drawings of places, monasteries,...

Add.Or.3013-3043. 6 large picture maps of Tibet and 25 drawings of places, monasteries, people and ceremonies in Tibet bound into three volumes. By a Tibetan artist, c.1844-62. Binding lettered: 'Wise. Tibetan Drawing'. Many drawings are inscribed with notes in Tibetan characters. Explanatory notes with water-marks of 1849, 1850, 1855, 1856 accompany some of the drawings. Water-colour; varying sizes. Circumstances of acquisition unrecorded. Note: These drawings appear to be by a Tibetan artist, probably a lama, who had had contact with Europeans and had developed a semi-European style of drawing. The maps are similar to pilgrim maps showing villages and buildings in pictorial form. The drawings appear to have been commissioned by the writer of the explanatory text. Although the bindings (c.1890-1900) are lettered 'Wise', no record of anyone of that name connected with Tibet or adjacent areas can be found in the records. The water-marks of the explanatory text as well as internal evidence (see Add.Or.3014, 3027, 3042) suggest a date for the drawings of between 1844 and 1862. The notes suggest that 'Wise' was acquainted with the western side of Tibet and had travelled in Ladakh. He is possibly James Fownes Norton Wise (1834-85) in India 1856, author of 'Notes on the races, castes and trades of Eastern Bengal' 1883. In the explanatory notes given below the words in square brackets are the cataloguer's transliterations of the names.The places on the maps can mostly be found, spelt differently, on the map in A. Cunningham, 'Ladak: physical, statistical and historical' (London, 1854). ---------------------. Add.Or.3013-3016. 4 picture maps of Tibet and Ladakh bound into a volume 29 by 22.5ins. Add.Or.3014 is accompanied with an explanatory text. ---------------------. Add.Or.3017-3019. 2 picture maps of central and eastern Tibet and the Zanskar valley, and a sheet of drawings of places connected with Padma Sambhava, 'Guru Rinpoche', bound into a volume (22 by 21 ins.) 3018 and 3019 are accompanied with explanatory texts. ---------------------. Add.Or.3020-3043. 24 drawings of monasteries and ceremonies, bound into a volume (26.5 by 21 ins). The drawings are normally accompanied with explanatory texts. ---------------------. Add.Or.3020-3025. Samyé and ceremonies there. ---------------------. Add.Or.3030-3031. Mudras.

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