Weiner Mihályné szerk.: Az Iparművészeti Múzeum Évkönyvei 8. (Budapest, 1965)

HOPP FERENC MÚZEUM — MUSÉE FERENC HOPP - Polonyi, Péter: „Keng Chih T'u" ink cake set („Illustration of Husbandry and Weaving") from the Chien-lung period

PÉTER POLONYT „KEN G CHIH T'U" INK CAKE SET („ILLUSTRATION OF HUSBANDRY AND WEAVING") FROM THE CHIEN-LUNG PERIOD The making of ink cake has a long-established tradition in China and it lived its golden age at the end of Ming period and at the beginning of the Ching period — from the middle of the 16th century up to the end of the 18th century — with a centre in the Southern part of the Province Anhui. It was from here that the sets comprising several ink cakes spread in the country and gained more and more ground against the earlier individual pieces.

1 By then from the common consumer goods the ink cake had already become a refined product of industrial art : it was preserved in painted, lacquered box lined with brocade, on its designs standing out in relief famous paintings revived and on its back sides verses were seen made with calligraphy. Sometimes even these sets were used to produce liquid ink,

2 but more than one of them had been preserved by their owners as original work of art and handed down from generation to generation. It is from this time that dates the largest specimen of ink cake sets of the Museum of Eastern Asiatic Arts in Budapest too, the series illustrating „KengChihT'u", presumably purchased by Ferenc Hopp (1833-1919), founder of our Museum. In each of the two black lacquered boxes decorated with coloured dragon (Fig. 1.), of size 32,1 cm long, 19,6 cm wide, 3,9 cm high there are, covered with figured brocade 24 ink cakes of size 6,7 cm long, 2,4 cm wide, 0,8 cm high, arranged in four rows, each row comprising 6 pieces. In the right upper corner of the husbandry series (Fig. 2.) we find the ink cake containing the preface of emperor Kang-hsi to „KengChih T'u"; on the right side of this cake we can see running the inscription indicating the name of the maker — Wang Wei-kao (Fig. 4.)

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: the 23 ink cakes, however, illustrating the cultivation of rice follow to the left, successively. The 23 ink cakes of the weaving series (Fig. 3.) illustrating the producing of silk follow in similar order one after the other starting out of the right upper corner ; on one of the 1 Yin Jun-sheng: Ming Ching Liang Tai Ti Chi Ching Mo. WenWu 1958/12pp. 12-15. 2 The recently deceased, renowned Chinese painter, Yü Fei-an mentions in his work upon the paints, used by the traditional Chinese painting (Chung Kuo Hua Yen Se Ti Yen Chiu. Peking, 1961. p. 30.) also the ,,Keng Chih T'u" ink set among those old imperial inks, which he used at that time on several occasions. 3 „Yü Shu Ch'u Chiao Hsi Tsao Mo Chien Sheng Ch'en Wang Wei Kao Chien" The official of the imperial chancellery, the inspector of ink making, Wang Wei-kao subject carved."