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

NOTES 1 The Museum is traditionally called a museum of Eastern Asiatic arts, but the sphere of its collecting activity is larger than that suggested by its name: it collects Oriental art works created in Asia (Siberia not included) and in the Islamic countries. However, Oriental carpets from these parts are not collected by the Hopp Museum; in the historical sense these fonn part of the culture of Hungarian homes, and are therefore kept by the Museum of Applied Arts, Budapest. Also omitted are Ottoman-Turkish works of applied art which came to Hungary during the period of the Turkish occupation (16 and 17

th centuries); these fonn part of the Hungarian historical collections. Middle Eastern art from pre-Islamic times is collected by the Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest. For the history of the Flopp Museum see Mária Ferenczy: "Seventy-five years of the Ferenc Hopp Museum of Eastern Asiatic Arts, Budapest." In: Ars Decorativa, Vol. 14 (1994), pp. 65-79. For a biography of Ferenc Hopp see Marianne Felvinczi Takács: "Hopp Ferenc". In: Keletkutatás, Autumn 1994, pp. 7-24. 3 A jurist, naturalist and ethnographer, Xantus collected art and craft works in the Far East for the Hungarian National Museum during a joint Austro-Hungarian expedition to the region in the years 1868-70. 4 Prelate and aristocrat. On instnictions from the pope, Vay travelled to Japan to visit the missions in East Asia. Regarding the art works he collected, see Országos Magy. Szépművészeti Múzeum: [National Hungarian Museum of Fine Art] „A Gr. Vay Péter-féle Japán-gyűjtemény" [The Count Péter Vay Japanese Collection]. With an Introduction by Count Péter Vay. Budapest, 1908. 5 A wealthy aristocrat, he organized expeditions out of interest in Flungarian prehistory. For the published part of the material collected see Jankó, János - Posta, Béla: "Gróf Zichy Jenő kaukázusi utazása" [Count Jenő Zichy'

s Travels in the Caucasus], I-II. Budapest 1897. 6 Radisics was the first director general of Budapest's Museum of Applied Arts. For his purchases at the Paris World Exhibition in 1900 see Batári, Ferenc: "Art nouveau 1900. Présentation des objets d'art acquis à l'occasion de l'Exposition Universelle de Paris." In: Ars Decorativa, Vol. 5 (1977) pp. 175-200. 7 See "A budapesti amateur gyűjtemények kiállításának lajstroma" [Inventory of the Budapest Amateur Collections Exhibition]. Budapest, 1907; also "Kiállítások, kiállítók, 1908-1913." [Exhibitions and Exhibitors, 1908-1913]. Iparművészeti Múzeum, Budapest. 8 Magyar Gyűjtők és Művészetkedvelők Egyesülete. "Keleti művészeti kiállítás." Szerkesztették: Csányi Károly és Felvinczi Takács Zoltán / Verein Ungarischer Sammler und Kunstliebhaber. "Ausstellung Orientalischer Kunst," bearbeitet von Karl Csányi und Zoltán Takács. Budapest, 1929. 9 An overview is given in Felvinczi Takács, Zoltán: "A Flopp Ferenc Kelet-Ázsiai Művészeti Múzeum" [The Ferenc Hopp Museum of Eastern Asiatic Arts]. In: Távol-Kelet, 1936 (Vol. I), I, pp. 11-32. 10 See Takács, Zoltán: "Francis Hopp Memorial Exhibition 1933. The Art of Greater Asia". Francis Hopp Museum of Eastern Asiatic Arts, Budapest 11 See Felvinczi Takács, Zoltán: "Hopp Ferenc gyűjteménye" [Ferenc Hopp's Collection]. In: Magyar Iparművészet, 1914, pp. 68,77-80, 85-89. 12 See Felényi, Béla: "Schwaiger Imre, a connoisseur. Egy családregény fejezete a Hopp Ferenc Kelet-Ázsiai Művészeti Múzeum történetéből." [Imre Schwaiger, the Connoisseur. The Ferenc Hopp Museum of Eastern Asiatic Arts. Extracts from the History of a Family]. In.: Művészettörténeti Értesítő, 1998 I-n. pp. 52-64. 13 Objects in this collection which represent Japanese Buddhist art are displayed in the "Japanese Buddhist Art" exhibition in the same building. 14 The International Research Center for Japanese Studies: Nichibunken Japanese Studies Series 6, Report of Japanese Art Abroad, Research Project Vol. 5. "Catalogue of Japanese Art in the Ferenc Hopp Museum of Eastern Asiatic Arts." Kyoto, 1995. 15 Cf. Mária Ferenczy; "Sir Marc Aurel Stein and Ferenc Flopp. An Unpublished Letter Written by M. A. Stein in the Documentation Department of the Ferenc Hopp Museum." In: Ars Decorativa, Vol. 13 (1993) pp. 243-52.