Vadas József (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 11. (Budapest, 1991)
FERENCZY Mária: A modernizáció megjelenése a századeleji kínai ábrázolásokon
seat there is an elegant gentleman driver, beside him a small boy waving a flag. On the right is the vaulted entrance of a twostoried brick-house (in foreign style, without the wall preventing one seeing inside) adorned with two big striped flags of the Republic; 57 before it are two ladies (the older one in traditional costume 58 ), a girl holding a peony, and another little boy with another flag. A man in European clothes is standing before them and is smoking a cigar. On the street there is a modern lamp-post in the centre, farther back a rivcrbank with iron railings. Across the river, in the background, a domed modern building can be seen. In other parts of the background, hills recall traditional paintings. This is a balanced composition, closed on the righthand side with traditional elements: a tree trunk, and a rock. The upper parts of the house are concealed by a cloud. Explanation: The picture, made at the order of the Chih-li Province Office of Education, served a traditional purpose: through a detailed representation of a large family and prosperity, a good year and good luck are wished to the family. The traditional function of the print is shown in several details (peonies in the girl's hand and on the frame of the car's canopy, the picture of a lucky coin painted there, plenty of red on the clothes and the flags /cf. note 58./, the women's clothes etc.). Wealth, however, is not entirely understood in a traditional sense: instead of sycees and other sym-bolic treasures heaped up, the affluent modern world of foreign origin is depicted: foreign clothes, houses built in the Western style, street-lighting and, especially, the most important foreign invention, a motor-car, the symbol of modern times. According to the title, this motor-car was Chinese, although in 1920 this was wishful thinking, a desire rather than a part of everyday life. In the picture traditional methods are used: an embellished image of everyday life, a modem middle-class way of life and the use of foreign technology arc shown to popularize modernization. Consequently, the picture is a unique document of the attempts made by the young Chinese Republic's educational authorities: while thinking over their task with Confucian statesmanship's traditional sense of responsibility, conscious of the importance of education, they utilized this traditional means, which could carry a message to every house, and to illiterates and scholars alike. They attempted to use its traditional function to popularize the modern way of life, technical progress superseding tradition. 59 Parallel cases as yet unkown to me. 16. EUROPEAN HUNTERS Inventory no.: 89.50.1 Size: 34,5 x 60 cm Title: Overseas People Going to Hunt (Yang jen ta wet) Signature: Jung ch'ang hua tien 60 Technique: block-printed with black and gold colours (over the hand-coloured part: ornamentations, the foreign pattern of the clothes); hand-coloured with light yellow, orange yellow, pink, red, claret, pale blue, dark blue, light brown, pale green, white colours and Chinese ink (grey and black). A fine work, delicately made. Condition: the paper slightly yellowish, crumpled, rims frazzled, the left lower corner is missing. The colours are still vivid. Subject: Three English gentlemen with rifles on their shoulders are going to hunt accompanied by an Indian falconer, a falcon and a dog. They are rather characteristic figures in their outlandish, pied clothes. The falconer is taller and darker than his
