Amerapoora: Shwe-doung-dyk Pagoda
September 1–October 21, 1855
Medium
Albumen silver print from waxed paper negative
Dimensions
Image: 25.8 x 34.6 cm (10 3/16 x 13 5/8 in.) Mount: 45.5 x 58.3 cm (17 15/16 x 22 15/16 in.) Mat: 20 × 24 in. (50.8 × 61 cm)
Classification
Photographs
Department
Photographs
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Purchase, The Buddy Taub Foundation, Dennis A. Roach and Jill Roach, Directors, and Alfred Stieglitz Society Gifts, 2012
Accession Number
2012.323.20
Tags
Art Historical Context
Linnaeus Tripe created this striking albumen silver print of the Shwe-doung-dyk Pagoda in Amerapoora (present-day Amarapura, Myanmar) during a British diplomatic mission to the Burmese court in 1855. As an officer in the Madras Army with a passion for photography, Tripe documented the region’s architectural wonders and landscapes with remarkable sensitivity, capturing the pagoda’s tiered silhouette against a serene natural setting. His work stands as one of the earliest photographic records of Burmese heritage, offering Western audiences a rare visual introduction to the country’s cultural lan...
About the Artist
Linnaeus Tripe
Linnaeus Tripe (1822–1902), born in Devonport, England, as the ninth of twelve children to Mary and Cornelius Tripe, pursued a military career influenced by his sister Emily's marriage to an army colonel. Joining the East India Company's Madras Infantry as a cadet in 1838, he rose to lieutenant in southern India by 1840 and captain in Bangalore by 1854. Extended leave in England from 1850 due to i...