Szilágyi András (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 17. (Budapest, 1998)

Mária FERENCZY: The Collecting of Oriental Art in Hungary as reflected in the Collections of the Ferenc Hopp Museum of Eastern Asiatic Arts, Budapest. Exhibition at the György Rath Museum, Budapest

MÁRIA FERENCZY THE COLLECTING OF ORIENTAL ART IN HUNGARY AS REFLECTED IN THE COLLECTIONS OF THE FERENC HOPP MUSEUM OF EASTERN ASIATIC ARTS, BUDAPEST EXHIBITION AT THE GYÖRGY RATH MUSEUM, BUDAPEST In Hungary, there is a long tradition of interest in the East. Knowledge of Oriental art among Hungarians began with the appearance of Oriental art works in the treasuries of aristocratic families. But a new period opened in the last third of the 19

th century, when travellers set out for the East, when art collecting began to catch on in a middle class that was growing in prosperity, and when public collections were established in which Oriental artefacts also found places. The history of the Ferenc Hopp Museum of Eastern Asiatic Arts

1 collections gives a comprehensive picture of the development of the public collections as well as that of art collecting by the middle class in general: the Museum's founder, Ferenc Hopp (1833-1919) was a wealthy Budapest citizen, art collector and art patron.

2 The Oriental art objects found in Hungary and brought together in the Museum were collected by Ferenc Hopp's contemporaries: by János Xontus (1825-94),

3 the founder of the Hungarian Ethnographical Museum; by Count Peter Vay (1864-1948),

4 who on behalf of the government made purchases in the Orient for Budapest's Museum of Fine Arts; by Count Jenő Zichy (18371906)," organizer of expeditions to collect archaeological material; and Jenő Radi si es (1856-1917), who purchased works by Oriental artists of the time at world exhibitions.

6 The collections of the Museum were subsequently enriched by donations from a number of travellers, specialists and art dealers, as well as from Hungarians living in the Far East. Sometimes even exchanges of art objects took place as well as purchases, albeit on a small scale. Over the years the Museum's stock has been considerably enriched by the collecting activity of its directors. An important landmark in the collecting of Oriental art in Hungary was the National Amateur Art Collectors' Exhibition held in Budapest in 1907,

7 at which a number of private individuals displayed important Oriental treasures. Ferenc Hopp, who founded the Museum by way of his last will and testament, exhibited the largest number of Oriental artefacts. The most important display of private collections of Oriental art was the Exhibition of Oriental Art arranged by the Hungarian Collectors and Art-lovers Association in Budapest in 1929.

8 The first (permanent) exhibition at the Ferenc Hopp Museum was opened in 1923;

9 and in 1933 the director of the Museum arranged a jubilee exhibition of objects from the Museum's collections, as well as of objects from elsewhere.

10 Our new exhibition arranged on the ground-floor of the György Rath Museum (in six small rooms, in an area of approximately 200 square metres) presents pieces selected from this rich material, displaying at the same time a number of items of interest from the viewpoint of cultural history. Collectors and donors of importance are commemorated there and their fields of