Papio ursinus (Chacma baboon) Possibly 1777

This is Robert Jacob Gordon’s ‘Papio ursinus (Chacma baboon)’ made in 1779 with pen, ink and watercolour. Gordon was a Dutch explorer, military officer and natural scientist of Scottish descent, employed by the Dutch East India Company. Gordon made thousands of natural history illustrations, and it’s no coincidence that he did so at a time of rising European colonialism. Expeditions of this sort were as much about documentation as they were about resource extraction, solidifying political control through visual knowledge. The baboon, in this case, is depicted as a specimen, in a manner that speaks to a broader project of domination and control. The image creates meaning through the visual codes of scientific illustration, but its historical associations are rooted in colonial expansion. In order to understand it better, one could consult Gordon’s journals and those of his contemporaries. The meaning of this art is contingent on its social and institutional context.