Bronze Gilt Chorten

A bronze gilt chorten acquired by Lieutenant (later Lieutenant Colonel) A.L. Hadow of the Royal Norfolk Regiment in 1903, during Colonel Francis Younghusband's controversial 'Political Mission' into Tibet. A chorten, known in Nepal as a stupa, is a Tibetan Buddhist monument which represents Buddha's presence and holds sacred objects, sometimes including the remains of important lamas.

The collecting of religious artefacts in Tibet was controversial even at the time. Some were purchased, and many Tibetans, including monks, were happy to trade, but there is no doubt that looting took place. Hadow wrote candidly to his mother: "While groping about in the dark I put my hand on something which I pulled out and discovered to be a model of a 'chorten' ... On cleaning off some of the dirt yesterday afternoon I discovered it to be made of copper and it appears to be plated with gold. It is set with small turquoises and coral. It is a very handsome thing and when properly clean will look very fine indeed."

Over the last few years, staff across Norfolk Museums Service have embarked on a decolonisation project to address the heritage of colonialism within our collections, aiming to tell the full and balanced history behind each object and acknowledge where these were taken without permission. If you would like to provide information to help us more accurately represent this object's culture of origin, you can email us at collections.management@norfolk.gov.uk