Szilágyi András (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 14. (Budapest, 1994)

FERENCZY Mária: Hetvenöt éves a budapesti Hopp Ferenc Kelet-Ázsiai Művészeti Múzeum

NOTES 1. Testament drawn up by Ferenc Hopp, July 17th 1919. - Hopp Museum, Department of Documentation, reference: A 97. 2. Ferenc Hopp was born in Moravia, in the town of Fulnek. He came to Budapest at the age of thirteen as optician apprentice to the Calderoni firm, which had a good name. After 1860, he became the joint owner, later the sole owner of the firm, while keeping the original name. The firm developed into a big enterprise, and in due course obtained the sole right to supply schools with visual aids and optical equipment. See the jubilee album entitled „Hopp Ferencnek, a szeretelt főnöknek ötven eves üzleti tevékenysége emlékére, 1895. évi július 19-én" (To Ferenc Hopp, our beloved boss in commemorating the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of his business activity, July 19th, 1895), (n. p., pp. 16, illustrated). 3. His activities as a patron of culture were manifold: he published, for example, the book by Miklós Konkoly-Thege on photography, he started a fund for an astronomical observatory to be built in the Tatras, he supported the organization of the meteorological observation network, he collected minerals during his travels and gave them to the Chair of Mineralogy at the Technical University for examination, he was a founding member and material supporter of the Hungarian Geographical Society, he donated visual aids to the schools of his native town etc. Cf. Marianne Felvinczi Takács: „Hopp Ferenc" (Ferenc Hopp's Biography) in: Keletkutatás, autumn 1994. 4. While his travels in his youth served to deepen his craftsmanship, following the traditions of the guilds, after the age of fifty he travelled for pleasure. The history of his travels - on the basis of his letters still extant - has been written by Marianne Felvinczi Takács op. cit. 5. Cf. the first description of the collection: Felvinczi Takács Zoltán: „Hopp Ferenc gyűjteménye" (The collection of Ferenc Hopp). In: Magyar Iparművészet (Hungarian Applied Arts) 1914, pp. 68, 77-80, 85-89. 6. Cf. Pál Miklós: „Előszó az 1990. évi kiadáshoz" (Preface to the 1990 edition). In: „Buddha útján a TávolKeleten" I. (On Buddha's trail in the Far East). Akadémiai Kiadó 1990, pp. V-XXIII. 7. Until 1935 the Hopp Museum belonged to the Museum of fine Arts. After that, following the ideas of Bálint Hómon, it was transferred to the National Museum, then called the National Museum of History. Since 1848 the Hopp Museum has belonged to the Museum of Applied Arts. 8. Prelate and aristocrat (1864-1949), commissioned by the pope travelled to Japan to visit the missions in East Asia, he wrote a book on Eastern art: „Kelet művészete és műizlése" (Art and artistic tastes in the East), Budapest, 1906. 9. Jurist, naturalist and ethnographer (1825-1894), enriched the Smithsonian Institution with a valuable natural history collection as a refugee living in America. Having returned to Hungary he became first the director of the Zoological Garden at Budapest, then director of the Department of Ethnography in the National Museum, as well as the founder and first director of the Museum of Ethnography. One of the motives of Xantus' collecting activity in the Far East in the years 1868-70, begun as an Austro-Hungarian joint enterprise, coincided not only with his interest in ethnography, but also with the idea behind the foundation of the Museum of Applied Arts during the years of his travels: the promotion of Hungarian craftsmanship, this time with the aid of the Oriental traditions and samples of craftsmanship. 10. Medical doctor, writer (1825-1908), aide-decamp to General Görgey during the revolution of 1848. He emigrated to London, served as army surgeon in India. It was he who saved the legacy of Alexander Csorna de Körös for Hungarian culture. 11. A journalist (1859-1905). travelled extensively in Europe, North Africa and Asia from 1881 to 1883. He returned from East Asia with an important collection of applied arts objects. 12. Cf. Péter Polonyi: „Chinese Sutra Covers in the Collection of the Ferenc Hopp Museum of Eastern Asiatic Arts in Budapest". In Acta Orientalia Hungarica Tom. XXIII. Fasc. 1, 1970, pp. 85-106. 13. Cf.: „Az 1900. évi Nemzetközi Párizsi Világkiállításon vásárolt Iparművészeti Gyűjtemény leíró jegyzéke". (Radisics Jenő Előszavával). (A Descriptive List of the Applied Art Collection purchased at the 1900 International Exhibition of Paris. Preface by Jenő Radisics) Országos Magyar Iparművészeti Múzeum (Museum of Applied Arts), Budapest 1901.: Ferenc Batári: „Art nouveau 1900. Présentation des objets d'art acquis a l'occasion de l'Exposition Universelle de Paris." In: Ars Decorativa 5 (1977), pp. 175-200. 14. A rich aristocrat (1837-1906), actively supported the development of Hungarian industry: his expedition were motivated by his interest in Hungarian prehistory. His collections were bequeathed oroginally to the city of Budapest. 15. Special significance is afforded to these by the fact that these are the first specimens that ever came into a museum from these areas. The material collected in the Caucasus has been published by the specialists who took part in Zichy'

s expedition in the expedition's report: Dr. Jankó János - Dr. Posta Béla: „Gróf Zichy Jenő kaukázusi utazása" (Travels of Count Jenő Zichy in the Caucasus), I-II. Budapest 1897. The greater part of the material from southern Siberia is still unpublished. 16. The Oriental museums of Berlin and Moscow although the latter is older than ours by one year only - were founded under historical conditions totally