|
Date: |
|
Description: | Photograph by Linnaeus Tripe with a view from outside the British Residency enclosure at Amarapura in Burma (Myanmar), looking towards the gate, from a portfolio of 120 prints. The accompanying letterpress states, 'This enclosure was formed by a bamboo wall about eighteen feet high, on the outer side of which was a continuous shed all round except at the east and west sides, in the centre of which were gateways. This shed was a barrack for some 600 Burmese soldiers with their officers, forming the Guard of Honor to the mission'. Tripe, an officer from the Madras Infantry, was the official photographer attached to a British diplomatic mission to King Mindon Min of Burma in 1855. This followed the British annexation of Pegu after the Second Anglo-Burmese War in 1852. Aside from official duties, the mission was instructed to gather information regarding the country and its people. Tripe's architectural and topographical views are of great documentary importance as they are among the earliest surviving photographs of Burma. Amarapura, on the Irrawaddy (Ayeyarwady) river, was twice the capital of the Burmese kings of the Konbaung dynasty: from 1782 (the year of its foundation by King Bodawpaya) to 1823 and again from 1837 to 1860, after which Mandalay, 11 km to the north, became capital. Amarapura was the site of the first British Embassy to Burma in 1795, and played host again to Tripe's Mission. | License: | http://www.bl.uk/services/copy/permission.html | Rights holder: | British Library | Subjects: | Rural Scenes Houses and homes Villages Cartography And Topography Architecture Country Houses | Source: | Collect Britain | Creator: | Tripe, Linnaeus | Identifier: | http://www.collectbritain.co.uk/personal... | Language: | en-GB | Go to resource |
|
|