Szilágyi András (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 18. (Budapest, 1999)

Maria FERENCZY: The formation of the Hopp-collection. On the 80th anniversary of the foundation of the Ferenc Hopp Museum of Eastern Asiatic Arts

steles were custom-made in Canton. Besides the usual felicitations, the inscriptions contain Ferenc Hopp's name in Chinese characters (see 111. 9). The story of how a four-meter-high slender stone pagoda got to Budapest is described in a letter from the firm Kuhn & Komor, art dealers in Yokohama, dated 1 June 1904

46 (see 111. 10). His home was named by him after the Buitenzorg Botanical Garden in Jawa. This exerted a lifelong impression on him. The word means "free from care" - an apt term for such a peculiar home, for this little world in itself. He ordered from China a stele on which this name was described in Chinese characters/

7 The villa received its present form in the enlargement of 1906. The enlarged rooms upstairs all served to house the collection the showcases which are used by the Museum up to the present day to exhibit the works of art were made at this time. The series of photographs showing the study, the drawing room and a part of the collection as well as the garden can probably be attributed to Mór Erdélyi, a noted photographer of the age (see Ills. 6-8) at the turn of the century. 5 Other photographs dating from 1911 and taken by Rudolf Balogh, were published in the Vasárnapi Újság to illustrate an article written by Jenő Radisics

49 (see Ills. 11-12). These show a number of art objects that are still in the Museum's possession. His first will dated from 1910.

50 In this Ferenc Hopp disposed of his wealth with a careful foresight. He felt it necessary to stress that this wealth was not inherited, it was acquired through his own business activity. First he determined the fate of the collections that represented the most valuable part of the estate, then those of the villa, the optical shop and a number of properties. Among the beneficiaries the great public collections are placed first, then relatives, friends, employees and a great number of institutions and associations. For him, his collection was the most important thing: "Meine Sammlung von japanischen, chinesischen und indischen Kunstgegenstände, sowie die asiatischen, afrikanischen, amerikanischen und australischen Naturalien und ethnographischen Gegenstände und Geräthschaften, welche sich in meiner Villa VI. Andrássy-ut 103. in Budapest, in Schaukasten, auch freistehend befinden, schenke ich unter dem Schutze and Contrôle des K. ung. Cultus Ministeriums, an die hier folgend beschriebenen drei K. ung. Staats Museums in Budapest und wünsche ich, dass das Országos Magyar Szépművészeti Múzeum [Hungarian National Museum of Fine Arts], die erste Wahl der Kunstgegenstände haben soll und nur das Beste und Schönste wählen möge, die zweite Wahl soll ['?] das Országos Magyar Iparművészeti Múzeum [Hungarian National Museum of Applied Arts] haben, und den Rest der Sammlung, erhält dann das Magyar Nemzeti Múzeum [Hungarian National Museum] zur Verteilung, an die ethnographische und anderen Abtheilungen. Das Országos Magyar Szépművészeti Múzeum erhält alle freistehenden Schaukasten ...Alle meine Schaukasten der geschenkten Sammlung, sollen in den betreffenden Museum mit der Aufschrift "Von unserem Staatsbürger FRANZ HOPP auf seinen Weltreisen gesammelt und dem ungarischen Staate geschenkt 1900 in ungarischen und wenn statthaft auch in deutscher oder französischen Sprache versehend werden."

57 The Museum of Fine Arts could acquire all the original oil paintings, watercolours and drawings it wanted. The new owner of the villa could move only after three months, so that the museums could have time to choose and take away pieces. The collection of photographs he wished to donate to the Hungarian Geographical Society in Budapest, the collection of opti-