Dupond Dressed In Chinese Costume – Figurines Tintin La Collection Officielle – 68 – Dupond Chinois

Author: Hergé & Editions Moulinsart
Price: £70.00
Publisher: Editions Moulinsart
Publication date: 2014
Format: Original pictorial boards with passport and figurine
Condition: In near fine condition
Illustrations: Illustrated throughout

Description:

Original pictorial boards. Includes passport loosely inserted. Text in French. Includes the accompanying figurine. One from the collection of 111 books and figurines. Very slight wear. In very near fine, clean condition overall.

Dupond: A Brief Account

Dupond, paired with his near-identical partner Dupont, is one of the most beloved and enduring comic creations in Hergé’s universe. Known in English as Thompson and Thomson, the pair are bumbling detectives whose constant misunderstandings, mistaken identities, and verbal absurdities provide a crucial element of humour throughout The Adventures of Tintin.

Although the two are nearly indistinguishable in appearance, their French names reveal the difference: Dupond (with a “d”) sports an upright, pointed moustache, while Dupont (with a “t”) has a slightly flared one. Hergé once joked that they were “twins with no family connection.”

Dupond is thus not so much an individual as one half of a double act, whose rhythmic, symmetrical presence reflects Hergé’s fascination with order, parody, and repetition.

Origins and Development

The characters first appeared in Cigars of the Pharaoh (Les Cigares du Pharaon, 1934–35)*, where they attempt to arrest Tintin after a misunderstanding. Their resemblance and incompetence immediately became comic trademarks.

They returned in The Blue Lotus (1936)* and were soon established as recurring figures — comic foils to Tintin’s rationality, but also loyal allies. Over the years, they appear in most of the major adventures, often arriving too late, misreading clues, or falling victim to slapstick accidents.

By the post-war period, Dupond and Dupont had become an essential part of Tintin’s world: embodiments of order and authority constantly undone by their own absurdity.

Character Overview

Dupond is a police detective — formally dressed, polite, and well-meaning — yet utterly lacking in intuition or deductive skill. He and Dupont communicate in pompous clichés and twisted idioms, often correcting one another while repeating the same mistake.

They are perpetually earnest, incapable of irony, and unfailingly confident in their own judgement — even when it leads to disaster.

Physical Appearance

• Nearly identical to Dupont, distinguished only by his moustache (Dupond’s is pointed).
• Always dressed in black suits, bowler hats, and carrying walking canes — symbols of officialdom and middle-class propriety.
• Their clothing rarely changes, giving them a timeless, almost puppet-like quality.

Hergé’s clear-line style accentuates their symmetry: they often appear side by side in mirrored poses, visually reinforcing their conceptual duality.

Personality and Traits

• Earnest and respectable: Dupond believes deeply in the dignity of his profession.
• Clumsy and literal-minded: He interprets everything at face value, often with catastrophic results.
• Verbally absurd: His speech is peppered with near-identical idioms, such as “To coin a phrase… I’d say we’re in the soup — or, to put it another way, the broth.”
• Courageous but foolish: He means well, but his bravery is undermined by confusion and incompetence.
• Loyal and decent: Despite their flaws, Dupond and Dupont remain among Tintin’s most faithful allies.

Role in the Narrative

1. Comic Relief

Dupond’s primary function is humour. His clumsiness, linguistic tangles, and accidents offer moments of levity even in serious stories. Whether falling into traps, chasing the wrong suspect, or disguising himself ineptly (as a Chinese man in The Blue Lotus or as an Arab in Land of Black Gold), Dupond represents the chaos of good intentions.

2. Satire of Bureaucracy and Policing

Through Dupond and Dupont, Hergé gently mocks the inefficiency of institutional authority. The detectives’ pomposity and red tape contrast sharply with Tintin’s quick thinking and moral clarity. They are the embodiment of officialdom that means well but never quite understands.

3. Moral Balance

Although foolish, Dupond is not corrupt. His honesty and loyalty remind readers that human decency can coexist with incompetence. His sincerity prevents him from becoming a caricature of malice.

4. Repetition and Order

Their constant repetition of phrases and gestures adds a rhythmic, almost musical quality to Hergé’s storytelling. Dupond and Dupont act as comic metronomes, punctuating the narrative with symmetrical absurdity.

Key Appearances

Cigars of the Pharaoh (1934–35)

Dupond and Dupont debut here, arresting Tintin by mistake and repeatedly blundering into his path. Their visual design is already established — bowler hats, suits, moustaches — as is their verbal confusion.

The Blue Lotus (1936)

Their attempt to disguise themselves as Chinese men results in farce, illustrating their inability to grasp cultural nuance. Hergé uses this episode to highlight Western ignorance, gently satirising colonial attitudes through their incompetence.

The Black Island (1938)

The detectives pursue Tintin across Europe, misinterpreting every clue. Their pratfalls contrast Tintin’s sharp observation, amplifying his role as the voice of reason.

Land of Black Gold (1950)

Their comic disguises continue, this time as Arabs. Despite their buffoonery, they show loyalty and courage, following Tintin into the desert and surviving endless misadventures.

The Calculus Affair (1956)

Dupond and Dupont’s role as comic intruders at Marlinspike Hall contrasts sharply with the story’s Cold War tension. Their inability to grasp the seriousness of events heightens both humour and suspense.

The Castafiore Emerald (1963)

Here, they are fully absorbed into Hergé’s social farce. Their pompous investigation into the missing jewel mirrors the futility of overcomplicated bureaucracy in a domestic setting.

Relationship with Tintin

Tintin tolerates the detectives with good humour, though he is often exasperated by their incompetence. Over time, a genuine friendship forms: Tintin recognises their sincerity, and they, despite misunderstanding nearly everything, respect his integrity.

Dupond’s loyalty to Tintin — even when suspecting him — underscores one of Hergé’s moral constants: goodness persists even amid confusion.

Relationship with Dupont

Dupond and Dupont are comic twins, defined by their inseparability. Their conversations, circular and nonsensical, are masterpieces of deadpan humour. For example:

“To be precise, Dupont, we must leave no stone unturned.”
“Exactly, Dupond — and I’d go even further: no pebble unpolished!”

Their mirrored movements and interchangeable dialogue give them a vaudevillian quality — reminiscent of classic stage duos like Laurel and Hardy.

Symbolism and Interpretation

1. The Comedy of Conformity

Dupond embodies the respectable everyman — uniformed, rule-abiding, and socially cautious. Hergé’s satire is affectionate, not cruel: he mocks the rigidity of those who obey systems without understanding them.

2. The Limits of Rationalism

As detectives, Dupond and Dupont represent logic gone awry — reasoning without insight. Their endless misinterpretations parody the belief that all problems can be solved through method and bureaucracy.

3. Human Fallibility

Dupond’s blunders remind readers that even the well-intentioned can err. His humanity makes Tintin’s perfection more believable: we understand Tintin’s brilliance because it stands beside Dupond’s folly.

4. Comic Duality

Dupond and Dupont mirror one another — a visual and linguistic echo. Their duality suggests the absurdity of human duplication: two people sharing one thought, and yet constantly misunderstanding it.

Artistic Portrayal

Hergé’s depiction of Dupond demonstrates his mastery of visual economy. The detectives’ identical forms create instant recognition, while minor differences — moustache angle, gesture, or line thickness — convey identity.

Their physical comedy, often involving collisions, falls, and mistaken identities, shows Hergé’s understanding of silent-film humour. Dupond’s stiff posture and pompous walk are drawn with exquisite precision, making every stumble feel inevitable and hilarious.

Psychological and Cultural Reading

Dupond is, in essence, a satire of the European bourgeois official: respectable, rule-bound, and inward-looking. He is comic not because he is cruel, but because he is unaware — a man so absorbed in procedure that he misses reality.

For Hergé, who grew up in a disciplined, clerical Belgium, Dupond and Dupont represent both comfort and critique. They are figures of authority who mean well but accomplish little — bumbling symbols of the human comedy that runs beneath adventure.

Yet they are also reassuring. Their return in nearly every story, unchanged and undeterred, provides continuity — an unbroken thread of comic stability in a world of constant peril.

Legacy

Dupond and Dupont are among the most enduring figures in European comic art. Their visual design — bowler hats, canes, matching moustaches — has become iconic.

In the English-speaking world, Thompson and Thomson remain favourites for their linguistic wordplay and physical comedy. Their malapropisms have entered popular culture as symbols of bureaucratic confusion.

Beyond Tintin, they influenced later comic duos across media, from television to animation, as archetypes of the well-meaning fool.

Summary

• Full name: Dupond (French original) / Thompson (English translation)
• Occupation: Detective, member of the police force
• Distinguishing feature: Pointed moustache (as opposed to Dupont’s flared one)
• First appearance: Cigars of the Pharaoh (1934–35)
• Role: Comic relief, satire of bureaucracy, moral foil to Tintin
• Personality: Honest, pompous, literal-minded, loyal, and endlessly clumsy
• Symbolism: Human fallibility; order undone by absurdity; parody of authority
• Most notable pairings: Dupont, Tintin, Captain Haddock

Conclusion

Dupond stands as one of Hergé’s greatest comic inventions — a figure of gentle folly whose mistakes reveal the humanity at the heart of Tintin’s universe.

Through Dupond (and his twin Dupont), Hergé parodied the rituals of authority and the illusions of reason, showing that even in a world of genius and heroism, confusion is universal and laughter essential.

Beneath his bowler hat and blustering dignity, Dupond embodies something timeless: the endearing foolishness of those who try, fail, and try again — oblivious, well-meaning, and indestructibly human.

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Cataloguer: Daniel Hornsey

Daniel Hornsey has specialised in fine and rare books, ephemera, and collectors’ editions for over thirty years. As a long-standing member of the antiquarian book trade, he has advised private collectors, curated catalogues, and sourced works for leading dealers, libraries and institutions across the world.

Hornseys’ exhibit regularly at book and map fairs in London and throughout the UK and are members of the Provincial Booksellers Fairs Association, the PBFA.

His fascination with Hergé’s work — especially ‘The Adventures of Tintin’ — began in childhood. Daniel recalls reading Tintin in original European editions and quickly recognising that these were not merely children’s books, but finely illustrated narratives crafted with artistic depth and wit.

As noted by the Musée Hergé in Louvain-la-Neuve, Hergé’s ‘ligne claire’ style has influenced generations of European comic artists and his original drawings and paintings command very high prices with his painting of ‘The Blue Lotus’ jar fetching £2.8m at auction in 2021.

By presenting these works through Hornseys’, he hopes to contribute to the continued appreciation of one of the 20th century’s most influential illustrators, helping new generations discover the artistry and legacy of Hergé.