Tanulmányok Budapest Múltjából 34. (2009)

TANULMÁNYOK - FAJCSÁK GYÖRGYI: KELETI MŰVÉSZETI KIÁLLÍTÁS, 1929

FAJCSÁK 2004=FAJCSÁK, Györgyi: „Bertalan Hatvány, an Unknown Connoisseur of Oriental Art." Ars Decorativa. Yearbook of Museum of Applied Art and Ferenc Hopp Museum of Eastern Asiatic Arts 22. Budapest 2004, 7—23. FELVINCZI TAKÁCS 1914=FELVINCZI TAKÁCS Zoltán: „Hopp Ferenc gyűjteménye." Magyar Iparművészet, XVVII. (1914) FELVINCZI TAKÁCS KÉZIRAT=FELVINCZI TAKÁCS Zoltán kézirata a Hopp Ferenc Múzeum történetéről. Hopp Ferenc Múzeum Adattár A3407, 56 Attila és hunjai, \940=Attila és hunjai. Szerk.: NÉMETH Gyula. Magyar Szemle Társaság, Budapest, 1940 GYÖRGYI FAJCSÁK 1929, EXHIBITION OF ORIENTAL ART SUMMARY In 1929, the Association of Hungarian Collectors and Connoisseurs arranged an exhibition of Oriental art in the Museum of Applied Arts. The exhibition displayed items selected from private collections and represented the art of Turkey, Persia, India, Tibet, Siam, China, Japan and related territories. The exhibition displayed 908 items of 69 Hungarian private collectors and antique shops. The material was selected and an illustrated catalogue was compiled by the art historians Károly Csányi and Zoltán Felvinczi Takács. The Budapest exhibition of Oriental art formed an organic part of the series of international Oriental exhibitions; similar exhibitions of private collectors' Oriental artefacts were staged in Vienna and Berlin. The exhibition units represented the art of a given region in chronological order and on the basis of crafts. The Chinese material constituted the largest group of objects (570 items), which exemplified the key role of Chinese art in the history of Far-Eastern art. The exhibited material shed light on the significant amount of Chinese items in Hungarian art treasure. Basically, ceramics, works of Buddhist plastic art, some bronze vessels and paintings were displayed. The majority (40 percent) of the exhibited Chinese material was constituted by ceramics (Han and Tang archaeological ceramics, Ming and Qing ceramic roof ornaments, and Song, Ming and Qing monochrome glazed artefacts). Alfréd Perlmutter was a renowned connoisseur of funeral ceramics. Mór Lipót Herzog, Ferdinánd Baumgarten, Bertalan Hatvány and Emil Sándor also exhibited a significant number of funeral ceramics. As for collectors of ceramic roof ornaments, Mór Kornfeld is to be mentioned. The works of Buddhist plastic art in the possession of Bertalan Hatvány, Emil Sándor and Mrs Dáni were also remarkable. Three fragments of cave-temples from Kizil, donated by professor LeCoq, were exhibited by Zoltán Felvinczi Takács, Pál Teleki and Mrs Zichy. Early Chinese ceramic art was represented by Han and Tang funeral ceramics and Ming monochrome ceramics. Henrik Herz's Longquan bowls and Géza Aladár Kármán's Longquan ceramics were also worthy of attention. Another major group of ceramics was that of monochrome (cobalt blue, cerulean, turquoise, ox's blood) ceramics from the Jingdezhen imperial manufacture. Some of them were put in metal frames in Europe (e.g. a clock with two fo lions); others were decorated with gold painting (e.g. items from Géza Aladár Kármán's and József Csetényi's collections). A small number of Ordos bronze finds from Zoltán Felvinczi Takács's collection were also displayed. Most of the exhibited collections were not old; the beginning of their evolution dates back to the turn of the 19-2()th centuries. Characteristically, there were architects (Géza Aladár Kármán, Henrik Herz) among the exhibitors; they displayed ceramics. A significant group involved representatives of the upper middle class in Budapest (Mór Lipót Herzog, Mór Kornfeld, Bertalan Hatvány etc.) and of the middle class (József Csetényi, Emil Delmár, Alfréd Perlmutter etc.). Antique dealers were also present in large numbers (Sándor Donath, Klasszis Corporation, Emil Sándor, Vilmos Szilárd etc.). Rarely did collectors of Oriental art purchase exclusively Oriental artefacts; however, special groups of objects did appear in numerous collections (e.g. funeral ceramics, works of Buddhist plastic art). Popular groups of artefacts were Han and Tang funeral ceramics, ceramic roof ornaments and works of Buddhist plastic art.