Szilágyi András (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 26. (Budapest, 2008)
Mária FERENCZY: Chinese Moon Gate on Budapest's Andrássy Avenue. The Garden of Ferenc Hopp, I
Construction and roofing 5. Decorative gate (pailou) with three apertures decorated of roof tiles. Beijing, beginning of the 20'' century Nevertheless it does fulfil its role: it indicates the boundary between the immediate environs of the house and the other part of the garden, and introduces the visitor to the world of the garden (today too, and even in its run-down state, the garden still has an atmosphere as a separate little domain in the middle of the capital that differs from its wider environment). In his surviving letters, Ferenc Hopp does not mention where in China he saw such a decorative gate. We can, however, be sure that it was personal experience of such a structure that prompted him to have it built. In 1888, he was able to order roof tiles, embellishments, stone sheeting, and stone lions from China with the help of Joseph Haas, 15 a personal acquaintance who was also the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy's consul in Shanghai. 16 The various elements were - like other art objects sent from the Far East - probably carried by ship to Fiume (now Rijeka, Croatia) or to Hamburg and then transported by train to Budapest. 17 It was Géza Györgyi 18 who designed the gate and who placed the embellishments on it; he was commissioned to do this by Ferenc Hopp. The foot of the tall brick structure is covered with facing bricks arranged in rows. Higher up, the wall was - with the exception of the part that features stone sheeting - covered with plaster, which was painted yellow. The circular opening in the gate is framed by facing bricks side by side and with a coloured ceramic element on the top. On the top of the wall, the carved and painted wooden rafters recall the ornamented rafters of Chinese buildings and decorative gates (ill. 5). These are surmounted by a roof consisting of a number of different parts that is covered with green glazed tiles. 1 " The shape of the roof tiles, which arrived from China, is traditional: they are semicylindrical (cylinders cut into two lengthways) in form (i.e. they are ridge-tiles). Rows of these were fitted together with the curved side downwards, after which rows with the curved side upwards were fitted together over the joins. At the edges of the eaves the last tiles in the convex rows are supplied with circular end-plates, while the last ones in the concave rows have end-plates that are semi-circular and arched at the edge; on this gate both types of plate are embellished with peony-flower motifs in relief (ill. 6). 6. Detail of the roof covering with circular and arched tiles at the borders
