#MB44
Ca. 1905
Ink drawing on thick paper ca. 23 x 35.5cm (9 x 14 in.). Recently matted, with some repair of marginal chipping and one repaired tear in margin, but overall in good condition.
This well executed ink drawing shows a temple complex near Lanzhou. Lanzhou "is the capital and largest city of Gansu Province in Northwest China."(Wikipedia). This ink drawing was created by an artist under Filchner's direction after a photograph made by Filchner enroute to Tibet on his 1903-5 "expedition to Tibet to carry out geomagnetic and topographical surveys on the high plateau. In addition to its scientific work the expedition carried out a significant intelligence-gathering role and was contemporaneous with similar missions by Francis Younghusband and others"(Howgego, 1850-1940 Polar Regions etc., F6).
