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
century Buddhist stele, a donation from the art collector Marcell Nemes (1860-1930). The other two were purchased by the Museum's first director, Zoltán Felvinczi Takács (1880-1964). This part of the exhibition has been arranged by Györgyi Fajcsák. In Room No. VT additional examples of Japanese lacquerware collected by Ferenc Hopp and. in smaller part, by the journalist Attila Szemere (1859-1905) are displayed along with wood-block prints and pieces of applied art. Miniature carvings originating from various private collections arc also displayed, as are two superior pieces purchased at the Paris World Exhibition in 1900. 14 The material of the Japanese room has been selected and arranged by Eva Cseh. Photographs complement the short texts in the rooms wherever possible. Besides the enlarged photograph of the Hopp suite mentioned above, there is also a photograph showing Ferenc Hopp at the foot of the Great Wall of China. We have been able to show Imre Schwaiger' s house in Delhi, as well as the interior of his shop there. In the Room No. V the atmosphere of the Chinese reception-room is documented by an illustration taken from a book by Dr. Dezső Bozóky. In the entrance hall, the portraits of the collectors, donors and former directors of the Museum are supplied with short explanatory notes in both English and Hungarian. The problem of explanatory notes could be solved by numbering the objects and putting the notes together in booklets in Hungarian and in English respectively that can be lent out to the visitors. A leaflet with two black-and-white and twelve colour photographs has been published in Hungarian and in English. The exhibition opened on June 26, 1997, some days before the opening of the 35 th International Congress of Asian and North African Studies (ICANAS), held in Budapest between July 7 and July 12, 1997, in order to utilize a unique opportunity to introduce the Museum to the Orientalists from all over the world. Since the central theme of the Congress has been a survey of the last hundred years of Oriental studies and since it would be impossible to deal with Inner Asian and Chinese studies without due regard for Budapest-born Sir Marc Aurel Stein (1862-1943). in the entrance hall a Sir Aurel Stein memorial showcase has been erected. This displays some art objects (not his archaeological finds) given personally by him to the Museum, as well as a selection from his correspondence with Ferenc Hopp and the Museum's first director. Zoltán Felvinczi Takács} 5 The exhibition is intended to remain at least for three years, during which time it will also serve as a permanent exhibition of Oriental art in Budapest. This function was taken into account when the material was selected and arranged. We have not achieved all our aims, although the varied and abundant material (approximately 550 items in all) does amount to a permanent exhibition (albeit a modest one) which enables visitors to gain an insight into the three main domains of Oriental art. It also offers an introduction to many characteristics of Indian. Chinese and Japanese art. In addition, the exhibition also presents Buddhism and Buddhist art, which play different but equally important roles in the culture and art of the areas mentioned above.
