Weiner Mihályné szerk.: Az Iparművészeti Múzeum Évkönyvei 12. (Budapest, 1970)

HOPP FERENC MÚZEUM — MUSÉE FERENC HOPP - Fux, Herbert: The Far Eastern Collections of the Austrian Museum for Applied Art

The main products of the Ch'ing dynasty are exposed with extraordinary masterpieces: the transition style changing from the Wan-li-wu-ts'ai to the famille verte, the émail sur biscuit, the transition period of blue and white porcelain and its late culminating during K'ang-hsi with the innovations of that time, the grain de riz and the uniform blue grounds. Beautiful examples are testifying the high quality of the sang de boeuf glazed and the rare peachbloom glazed vases. We are able to deduce for the porcelain made after K'ang-hsi: blue and white, iron red over the glaze in combination with underglaze blue, the famille rose, tea-dust, Batavia porcelain, Nanking yellow, monochrome and flambé glazes, mirror black and the archaizing tendencies of the 18th century, not leaving out the white porcelain from Tê-hua. The list of the ceramics made during the Manchu rule would be incomplete . without the Shewan and other stone wares including an impressive selection of architectural pieces. Beyond these two exhibition rooms does not exist any possibility to expose the other Asiatic pieces except on special exhibitions. Therefore the museum is looking for extension. The depot is open of course for the specialists and colleagues. It is arranged like a collection available for studies. This is the place for storage of single pieces of different countries and periods, as well as for entire collections; among them are Ordos bronzes, feather enamel and painted scrolls. It is regrettable that examples of Japanese art, including sculptures, paintings, ceramics for the tea-ceremony, stonewares, porcelain, bronzes and other objects of applied art are to be seen for the time being only in the depot. The Oriental silks, carpets and costumes are kept in the department of textiles. In the library of the museum there is also a great number of Oriental art objects, among them a voluminous collection of Japanese wood-prints representing almost all of the famous masters, ink paintings and designs for clothes and approximately 10,000 models for tinging. These few lines were intended just to give a very short information about the remarkable collection of Far Eastern art at the Austrian Museum of Applied Art in Vienna.