This paper has its origins in a research project, an exhibition and a book, all from the British Museum built around a remarkable textile item in the Museum’s collection that is from Assam. It is over 9.00m in length and is made up of twelve different strips of cloth now stitched together. These cloths are all figured and reflect the distinctive Vaisnava culture of Assam. The cloths are figured and also contain text, woven using the sophisticated lampas technique. They were once all separate, and their assembly today, stitched together, is testament to a period when they were used in Tibet, before being acquired by a British journalist, Perceval Landon, who was accredited to the Younghusband Expedition to Lhasa (1903-04). He had given the textile to the British Museum where it remained until discovered by curators from the V&A and displayed by me in 1993. The paper will explore the three ‘lives’ of this outstanding textile item - in Assam, in Tibet and in London.