Szilágyi András (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 20. (Budapest, 2001)
Mária FERENCZY: On the history of the Netsuke collection of the Ferenc Hopp Museum - on the Occasion of the Publication of its Catalogue
Since 1923, the opening of its first exhibition, the Hopp Museum has continually provided professional assistance for friends and collectors of Oriental art not only by displaying its collection but also by offering making accessible its library and by consulting its director. It was the background of the Oriental Arts Exhibition in 1929, organised by the Association of Hungarian Collectors and Friends of Art. According to the catalogue 30 , more than 900 items from 69 collectors were exhibited. The artefacts were grouped by geographic area, and arranged in sub-groups by material. By this period collectors had narrowed down the scope of their collections to specific fields, it appears that there were a number of art collectors known for their European collections had valuable Oriental items as well. Out of the exhibited 160 Japanese objects, there were 16 single netsuke, and 9 netsuke attached to inro. 31 The museum's collection was further enriched through purchasing artworks in modest numbers and, to a much larger extent, by donations from private collectors. Netsuke were donated, among others, by Dr Gyula Bischitz 32 (1854-1927) (see 111. No. 12) and Lajos Neumann 33 (1865-1929) (see 111. No. 13). Zoltán Felvinczi Takács himself also collected netsuke for the museum during his study tour to the Far East in 1936-1937 (see 111. No. 14). Another significant expansion took place between 1950 and 1953, when the Hopp Museum took over Eastern materials collected over decades by the Museum of Applied Arts. This material includes netsuke and okimono M as well. At the same time, it is still unclear from the available documents how these pieces became included in the museum's collection. After losses suffered during World War II the museum started to develop again. From then on, it displayed its material in thematic exhibitions. Netsuke were exhibited at an ivory exhibition as well as various exhibitions of Japanese art. The last two of these were staged in the building of the György Rath Museum in 1987 under the title Japán művészet I Japanese Arts (permanent exhibition) and in 1997 under the title Keleti műgyűjtés Magyarországon a Hopp Ferenc Kelet-Ázsiai Művészeti Múzeum gyűjteményeinek tükrében / Collecting Oriental Art in Hungary as Reflected in the Collection of the Ferenc Hopp Museum of Eastern Asiatic Arts, Budapest. A netsuke exhibition took place in 1980, and the netsuke exhibition currently on was opened in 2000. A small catalogue in Hungarian and English was also published to accompany the latter show. A visit by experts from the Nichibunken Research Center (Kyoto) and making selected materials accessible for researchers in a volume published in 1995 35 were milestones in the history of the collection. The volume contains photographs of 214 netsuke and provides basic information in English and Japanese. It was the interest that volume enjoyed that encouraged the museum to publish the present catalogue.
