See Here: 11/4/2011
![China, Miscellaneous Scenes: Mongol lassoing pony, Tabool, Mongolia, Smithsonian Institution Archives, SIA RU007263 [SIA2008-2909].](http://ids.si.edu/ids/deliveryService?id=http://sirismm.si.edu/sia/image/SIA2008-2909.jpg&max_w=450 "China, Miscellaneous Scenes: Mongol lassoing pony, Tabool, Mongolia, Smithsonian Institution Archives, SIA RU007263 [SIA2008-2909].")
Comments (7) – Leave a comment
Awesome! I love the vast expanses of Mongolia. Never knew they were captured photographically so early.
Do you know who took this photo? I wonder whether the time period overlapped with The Great Game, when British 'nature photographers' and 'botanists' would explore central Asia to spy on whether the Russians were trying to get to India. I don't know how Mongolia would fit into that, though.
Julia Roberts did a documentary about Mongolia a few years back that really captured the openness of the country, physically and emotionally.
Hi James-
Thanks for dropping by! This photo was taken by Arthur de Carle Sowerby, whose papers we have at the Smithsonian Institution Archives. He took quite a few striking images of China and Mongolia that are in our collections: http://bit.ly/talYOg
He sounds like a pretty fascinating guy, and I encourage you to look at our collection guide for his papers: http://bit.ly/tPzhp2
"Arthur de Carle Sowerby (1885-1954), naturalist, explorer, artist, and editor was born in Tai-yuan Fu, Shansi province, China, where his father served as a Baptist missionary. After a brief stay at Bristol University, England, Sowerby returned to China and began collecting specimens for the Natural History Museum in Tai-yuan Fu." He continued to go on a lot of trips around the region, collecting items that eventually ended up in the collections of the British Museum and the Smithsonian.
Best,
Catherine
I just learned that was near where grandfather grow up in Mongolia, I think its a tea farm now.
We sold property, but wow, unbelievable.
Hi- That's pretty incredible that you're familiar with the area! Is it still quite rural?
Best,
Catherine
This is one of the coolest photos I have seen in quite a while. I love the speed and motion, and the fact that it's quite old is amazing. Even if this were taken today with modern equipment I'd be impressed! The lo-fi movement in photography today is interesting, but I love it when I see a genuine photo like this.
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