Homepage

 
spacer
spacer
Pitt Rivers Museum homepagespacer
Lunch menu from the steamship Bruxellesville. A postcard sent by Hottot to his address in Rueil, a practice adopted which alerted those at home to the traveller's whereabouts and provided Hottot himself with a souvenir of the voyage.
A receipt for a rifle and ammunition bought by Hottot at Brazzaville in February 1907. An envelope used for a letter from Edmond Perrier, director of the Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle, showing Robert Hottot's addresses in Paris and Rueil.
A cutting from the newspaper Le Soleil, with a short entry about the Hottot mission. A cutting from the newspaper La Dépêche de Brest, with a short entry about the Hottot mission.
A receipt for expenditure by members of the expedition on food and accommodation during February and March 1908. Annotated proofs for part of an article by Jacques de Nouvion which appeared in Le Monde Illustré.
Map of the Kanem region north-east of Lake Chad, drawn by Robert Hottot at Mao on 26 November 1908. Shooting permit allowing Hottot to hunt 'large and small Game' in the state of Chamba.


Hottot Collection

A. Robert Hottot (1884-1939) was a French explorer and collector who at the beginning of the twentieth century made several notable discoveries for African ethnography. Born and raised in Paris, Hottot developed an interest in travel and the exotic from an uncle, Ernest Hottot, a wealthy doctor and collector (and a former neighbour of Sir Richard Wallace). Abandoning his studies at an early age, Robert Hottot was well connected in Parisian circles – he was personally acquainted with Max Jacob – and during his twenties he undertook several long and arduous expeditions through Africa and the Far East. Following his marriage in 1912, Hottot settled with his wife in France, living at various times in Paris, Esvres-sur-Indre and Aix-en-Provence, before moving in 1925 to Jersey. In 1932 Hottot moved with his family to Oxford, and was later President of the Oxford University Anthropological Society and a Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland.

Donated to the Pitt Rivers Museum in 1994, the Hottot Collection comprises more than 800 photographs (glass plates, prints and one original album) showing people and places in countries including France, Algeria, Japan, China, Cambodia and India. Chief among its interests, however, are photographs relating to three trips which Robert Hottot made to Central Africa in 1906, 1907 and 1908-9. Recorded on the second of these as 'touriste', Hottot was motivated to travel initially as a wealthy enthusiast, but encounters with the Teke people in 1906 led him to seek for a third expedition the endorsement of the French government as a mission gratuite. Collecting objects for the Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris, this expedition had as its goal the exploration of the Kanem region east of Lake Chad, an area which remained largely uncharted by Africa's colonial powers. Setting off from Antwerp in February 1908, the 'Mission Hottot', or 'Mission ethnographique du Kanem-Chari-Logone', lasted nearly fourteen months, with its members facing hazardous conditions and numerous hostile threats as they travelled overland and by river from Brazzaville to Lake Chad, a journey of more than two thousand kilometres through Middle Congo (now the People's Republic of the Congo), Congo Free State (later Belgian Congo, now the Democratic Republic of the Congo), the French territory of Oubangui-Chari (now Central African Republic), and Chad. Three other men accompanied Hottot on the expedition: Albert Guinard, who fell ill several weeks into the voyage and returned home shortly thereafter; Léon Poutrin, a former army doctor who was recruited to provide medical assistance and who later published several contributions to African ethnography; and Georges Barbat, who had earlier spent seven years in French Indochina but who did not survive the expedition. The photographs taken by Hottot reveal the overlapping set of motivations and interests held by the party, including big game hunting, the study of the indigenous peoples, and adventurous river navigation and travel. Made as stereographs, and carefully annotated by the photographer, the surviving glass plates also reveal Hottot's desire to record and afterwards to relive the experience. The collection, together with associated notes, correspondence and diaries, provides a remarkably complete record of an early colonial expedition.

Cite information on this page


Robert Hottot photographed as a boy by his father. Robert Hottot with two monkeys shot during his first expedition to the Congo. Huts in a Congolese village. Teke objects photographed in the field by Hottot. A stringed musical instrument, two rattles made of polished seed pods, and two bells collected by Hottot in 1906. A wart-hog killed by Bangala hunters. Expedition member Léon Poutrin making notes in a dug-out canoe on Lake Tumba, with Hottot's servant Moussa-Boubou in the white hat in the foreground. The three expedition members beside the Ubangi River. Expedition member Georges Barbat and local carriers setting along a section of the Ubangi River. Fighting techiques of the Mbagha observed by the photographer.
Robert Hottot leaving a native hut. A pair of iron riding anklets, used as spurs by horsemen of the Sara tribe, collected by Hottot at Fort Archambault in August 1908. The boats which the expedition members used to voyage down the Chari River. Kaba women photographed by Hottot wearing their lip plugs. A giraffe shot by Hottot near Boo village. Canoes on Lake Chad. Sheikh Ahmed, chief of the Arab Ouled Sliman tribe. Houses in the port town of Matadi on the Congo River. Hottot's pet monkey Bikoko. Robert Hottot's bookplate, designed for him by André Rouveyre, this example being from Hottot's copy of Max Jacob's Le terrain bouchaballe.
Click on thumbnails to view images

 


Further Resources

 

Pitt Rivers Museum, Photograph Collections

Link to online database


Pitt Rivers Museum, Manuscript Collections

Hottot Papers

1/1 – Copy-book headed 'Mission ethnographique du Chari-Logone', containing carbon copies of letters and other pieces relating to the 1908-9 mission.

1/2 – Collection of manuscript and printed maps showing various different regions of Central Africa. View

1/3 – Five reels of film taken by Robert Hottot at Angkor Wat in Cambodia (1911).

1/4 – Collection of 19 photographic prints and 2 negatives.

1/5 – Collection of 41 postcards, with dates from June 1906 to January 1907.

1/6a – Notebook headed 'Mission ethnographique du Kanem-Chari-Logone', a catalogue of objects and specimens numbered from 1 to 388, with a diary kept by Robert Hottot from 1 January to 28 February 1909.

1/6b – Collection of loose handwritten notes, relating mainly to objects and specimens collected on the 1908-9 mission.

1/7a – Notebook headed 'Mission ethnographique du Kanem-Chari-Logone', a diary kept by Robert Hottot from 4 February to 31 December 1908. View

1/7b – Collection of loose handwritten notes, relating mainly to objects and specimens collected on the 1908-9 mission, including a list of objects and specimens given to the Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris.

1/8 – Notebook headed 'Carnet de Chasse', a list of animals shot by Robert Hottot while hunting in the Congo in 1907.

1/9 – Diary kept by Robert Hottot from 4 June to 9 November 1906.

1/10a-d – Four paperback notebooks, which together form a diary kept by Robert Hottot from early February to mid-May 1907.

1/11 – Notebook titled 'Carnet de Visites', with a diary kept by Robert Hottot from 6 February to 2 March 1908.

2 – Collection of letters and postcards, 1906-1915.

3/1 – Receipt for expenditure by Robert Hottot, Léon Poutrin and Albert Guinard on food, accommodation, etc., Matadi, undated (March 1908). View

3/2 – Receipt for expenditure by Georges Barbat on food, accommodation, etc., Matadi, undated (February 1908).

3/3 – Receipt for expediture by Robert Hottot and Paul Richez on transport, Kinshasa, 30 June 1906.

3/4 – Letter from [?] to Robert Hottot, 6 July 1906.

3/5 – Envelope addressed to Robert Hottot in Brazzaville, unstamped.

3/6 – Letter from [?] to Robert Hottot, 17 September 1906.

3/7 – Receipt for expenditure by Robert Hottot on various objects, Libreville, 9 October 1906.

3/8 – Receipt for expediture by Robert Hottot on coffee, Kinshasa, 12 October 1906.

3/9 – Lunch menu from the steamship Bruxellesville, 26 January 1907. View

3/10 – Receipt for expenditure by Robert Hottot on food, Brazzaville, 27 February 1907.

3/11 – Receipt for expenditure by Robert Hottot on a rifle and ammunition, Brazzaville, 23 February 1907. View

3/12 – 'CERTIFICAT D'ORIGINE', a purchase certificate for objects bought by Robert Hottot, Brazzaville, 15 May 1907.

3/13 – Receipt for expenditure by Robert Hottot on cloth, ammunition, etc., 18 March 1908.

3/14 – 'LAISSEZ-PASSEZ' made out for Renée Hottot to go to Aix-en-Provence, 18 July 1918.

3/15 – Letter from [?] to Robert Hottot, 1 February 1909.

3/16 – Receipt for expenditure by Robert Hottot on food, accommodation, etc., Bangui, 1 February 1909.

3/17 – 'CERTIFICAT DE RÉSIDENCE' declaring Robert Hottot the owner of 53 avenue de Paris at Rueil, Rueil, 20 June 1905.

3/18 – Two receipts for expenditure, Brazzaville, 20 July 1905.

3/19 – Financial statement, Antwerp, 9 February 1910.

3/20 – Receipt enclosed with a shooting permit, 6 March 1910.

3/21 – 'CARTE D'ÉLECTEUR', a voting slip made out to Robert Hottot, 26 April 1914.

3/22 – 'Certificat d'Exemption' made out to Robert Hottot, exempting him from military service, Tours, 16 March 1915.

3/23 – Note for Robert Hottot's safe conduct from Esvres to Paris, Esvres, 30 May 1915.

3/24 – Note for Robert Hottot's safe conduct from Esvres to Paris, Esvres, 7 July 1915.

3/25 – Cutting from a newspaper, with mention of 'Hottot, touriste' joining the passenger ship Paraguay at Matadi.

3/26 – Cutting from the newspaper La Dépêche de Brest, 7 February 1908, with a short entry about the Hottot mission. View

3/27 – Cutting from the newspaper L'Eclair, 2 February 1908, with a short entry about the Hottot mission.

3/28 – Cutting from the newspaper Le Petit Temps, 7 February 1908, with a short entry about the Hottot mission.

3/29 – Annotated proofs for an article by Jacques de Nouvion titled 'La Mission Robert Hottot' which appeared in Le Monde Illustré. View

3/30 – Annotated proofs for an article by Jacques de Nouvion titled 'La Mission Robert Hottot' which appeared in Le Monde Illustré.

3/31 – Letter from [?] to [Robert Hottot], undated.

3/32 – Letter from [?] to [Robert Hottot], undated.

3/33 – Piece of paper with notes.

3/34 – Piece of paper with notes.

3/35 – Piece of paper with notes.

3/36 – Letter from [?] to [Robert Hottot], 19 [?] 1906.

3/37 – Letter from A. Fredon to [Robert Hottot], 19 August 1906.

3/38 – Postcard addressed to Robert Hottot in Rueil, 17 October 1906.

3/39 – Letter from [?] to [Robert Hottot], undated, postmarked 7 December 1906.

3/40 – Postcard addressed to Robert Hottot in Rueil, 4 February 1907.

3/41 – Postcard addressed to Robert Hottot in Rueil, 16 February 1907.

3/42 – Postcard addressed to Robert Hottot in Paris, 16 February 1907.

3/43 – Postcard addressed to Robert Hottot in Paris, 16 February 1907.

3/44 – Postcard addressed to Robert Hottot in Rueil, 16 February 1907.

3/45 – Postcard addressed to Robert Hottot in Rueil, 16 February 1907. View

3/46 – Postcard addressed to Robert Hottot in Rueil, 16 February 1907.

3/47 – Letter from [?] to [Robert Hottot], 27 March 1907.

3/48 – Postcard from O. Praskin to Robert Hottot, 17 April 1907.

3/49 – Postcard from [?] to Robert Hottot, postmarked 4 April 1907.

3/50 – Letter from [?] to [Robert Hottot], 17 December 1907.

3/51 – Envelope addressed to Robert Hottot in Rueil, postmarked 1907.

3/52 – Letter from A. Fredon to Robert Hottot, 8 December 1907.

3/53 – Envelope addressed to Robert Hottot in Paris, postmarked 13 December 1907.

3/54 – Letter from Léon Poutrin to Robert Hottot, undated.

3/55 – Envelope addressed to Robert Hottot in Rueil.

3/56 – Letter from [?] to Robert Hottot, 16 May 1908.

3/57 – Letter from [?] to Robert Hottot, 10 May 1908.

3/58 – Letter from G. Prokos to [Robert Hottot], 17 June [1908].

3/59 – Envelope addressed to Robert Hottot in the Congo, postmarked 16 June 1908.

3/60 – Letter from [Robert Hottot] to [?], 7 June 1909.

3/61 – Postcard from [?] to Robert and Renée Hottot, 11 November 1914.

3/62 – Letter from [?] to Renée Hottot, 28 March 1915.

3/63 – Draft of a letter from Renée Hottot to [?] Delance, 27 April 1952.

3/64 – Envelope addressed to Renée Hottot in Oxford, postmarked 29 May 1952.

3/65 – Notebook initialled 'RH', containing used and unused envelopes.

3/66a – Envelope addressed to Robert Hottot in Brazzaville, postmarked 16 March 1908.

3/66b – Envelope addressed to Robert Hottot in Brazzaville, forwarded to Paris, postmarked 18 March 1907.

3/67 – Envelope addressed to Robert Hottot in Paris, postmarked 17 January 1907.

3/68 – Envelope addressed to Robert Hottot in Brazzaville, forwarded to Paris, postmarked 19 March 1907.

3/69 – Envelope addressed to Robert Hottot in Paris, forwarded to Rueil, from the 'MUSÉUM D'HISTOIRE NATURELLE', postmarked 27 December 1907. View

3/70 – Envelope addressed to Robert Hottot in Rueil, from the 'MUSÉUM D'HISTOIRE NATURELLE', postmarked 18 January 1908.

3/71 – Envelope addressed to Robert Hottot on board the steamship Bruxellesville, unstamped.

3/72 – Postcard addressed to Robert Hottot in Matadi, postmarked 20 October 1906.

3/73 – Envelope addressed to Robert Hottot in Brazzaville, unstamped.

3/74 – Envelope addressed to Robert Hottot in Bombay, postmarked February 1910.

3/75 – Envelope addressed to Robert Hottot in Delhi, forwarded to Bombay, postmarked 1 April 1910.

3/76 – Envelope addressed to Robert Hottot in Paris, postmarked 9 February 1910.

3/77 – Envelope addressed to Robert Hottot in Brazzaville, postmarked 1906.

3/78 – Unused envelope.

3/79 – Unused envelope.

3/80 – Letter from Edmond Perrier to Robert Hottot, 26 December 1907.

3/81 – Letter from Edmond Perrier to Robert Hottot, 18 January 1908.

3/82 – Letter from Edmond Perrier to Robert Hottot, 18 January 1908. View

3/83 – Letter from [?] to Emile Dupont, 27 January 1908. View

3/84 – Letter from [?] Bayet to Robert Hottot, 30 January 1908.

3/85 – Letter from [?] to Emile Dupont, [January] 1908.

3/86 – Edition of the newspaper Le Figaro, 1 February 1908, with a short entry about the Hottot mission.

3/87 – Cutting from the newspaper Le Soleil, 2 February 1908, with a short entry about the Hottot mission. View

3/88 – Printed piece with address details for the Hottot mission and sponsor, probably a luggage label. View

3/89 – Annotated printed piece showing the route which Robert Hottot took to reach the Congo (February 1908). View

3/90a – Letter from [?] Van Damme to Robert Hottot, 27 February 1908.

3/90b – Envelope addressed to Robert Hottot on board the steamship Bruxellesville, unstamped.

3/91 – Letter from [?] Millot to Robert Hottot, 1908.

3/92 – Letter from [?] to Robert Hottot, 10 October 1908.

3/93 – Letter from Edmond Perrier to Robert Hottot, 8 May 1909.

3/94 – Statement concerning Robert Hottot's staying in M'Bamou, signed by [?] Marin, M'Bamou, 5 October 1906.

3/95 – Receipt for expenditure by Robert Hottot and Paul Richez on transport, food, etc., Brazzaville, 9 October 1906.

3/96 – Receipt for expenditure by Robert Hottot and Paul Richez on food, 11 October 1906.

3/97 – 'CERTIFICAT D'ORIGINE', a purchase certificate for objects bought by Robert Hottot, Brazzaville, 11 October 1906.

3/98 – 'PERMIS D'EXPORTATION', an export licence for coffee bought by Robert Hottot, Kinshasa, 12 October 1906.

3/99 – Receipt for expenditure by Robert Hottot on food and accommodation, Matadi, 21 October 1906.

3/100 – Shooting permit made out to 'Monsieur A.R. Hottot' for the state of Chamba, 6 March 1910. View

3/101 – Piece of paper with paintings and jottings. View

3/102 – Postcard from Robert Hottot to Albert Marion, 8 April 1906.

3/103a – Letter from Edouard Champion to Robert Hottot, 30 July 1908.

3/103b – Envelope addressed to Robert Hottot in Brazzaville, postmarked 31 July 1908.

3/104a – Letter from Renée Sergent to Robert Hottot, 14 October 1906.

3/104b – Envelope addressed to Robert Hottot in Brazzaville, postmarked 15 October 1906.


Pitt Rivers Museum, Object Collections

Link to online database

Objects collected by Robert Hottot are also held by the Musée du Quai Branly, Paris, the British Museum, London, and the Natural History Museum, London.


Walking in the Kasbah. Houses on the shore at Kodzu, seen from the room in which Hottot was staying. An instrument at the astronomical observatory in Peking. Walking on the Great Wall of China. Street scene. Hottot's fiancée Renée Aine at the temple of Prah Khan near the Angkor complex. A courtyard of the Red Fort. Robert Hottot swimming in the River Indre. Hottot inspecting Roman antiquities with Jean-Jacques Brousson, the secretary of Anatole France and a friend with whom he maintained a regular correspondence. Robert Hottot's son Hubert photographed during a summer holiday in Provence.
Click on thumbnails to view images


Bibliography

Jacques de Nouvion, 'La Mission Robert Hottot', Le Monde Illustré, 29 August 1908, p.132.

'Mission R. Hottot', La Géographie: Bulletin de la Société de Géographie, 19 (1909), pp.85-86. Link to journal

R. Hottot, 'Sara-Kabba-Jingé Pottery', in Congrès International des Sciences Anthropologiques et Ethnologiques. Compte-rendu de la première session, Londres (London, 1934), pp.254-255.

Robert Hottot, 'Teke Fetishes' (prepared for publication by Frank Willett), Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, 86 (1956), pp.25-36. Link to article

Robert Hottot, 'Fétiches téké', Arts d'Afrique [later Arts d'Afrique noire], 1 (1971), pp.17-33.

Frank Willett, African Art: An Introduction (London, 1971).

John Mack, 'Squatting Male Figure', National Art Collections Fund Review, (1995), pp.122-123. Link to NACF record

Philip N. Grover and Christopher Morton, 'Hottot Collection', Congo Journey: Photographs and Documents from Robert Hottot's Expedition to Central Africa, 1908-9 [website], (published online 12 January 2006 ) <http://www.prm.ox.ac.uk/congojourney/robert-hottot-expedition-mission-collection-resources-bibliography.htm>.

Philip N. Grover and Christopher Morton, 'A Teke Fetish', forthcoming.

Philip N. Grover and Christopher Morton, 'Robert Hottot: Explorer, Collector, Photographer', forthcoming.


Cite information on this page

 

Source: Philip N. Grover and Christopher Morton, ‘Hottot Collection’, Congo Journey: Photographs and Documents from Robert Hottot’s Expedition to Central Africa, 1908-9 [website], (published online 12 January 2006) <http://www.prm.ox.ac.uk/congojourney/robert-hottot-expedition-mission-collection-resources-bibliography.htm>.