Weiner Mihályné szerk.: Az Iparművészeti Múzeum Évkönyvei 12. (Budapest, 1970)
HOPP FERENC MÚZEUM — MUSÉE FERENC HOPP - Ferenczy, László: The Problems of Asian Collections in Western Museum
in the Museum für Völkerkunde at Munich. The coupling of an Oriental museum to another museum as a part of it has, among others, the danger that the Asian collection may in principle belong not only to a sole museum. That is, the material in a given country or city can be divided among two or more museums and none of them will have the means and initiative to represent Asian art as a whole. In a few superlarge museums, such as the Louvre, the British Museum, the Hermitage, the Metropolitan, Boston or Cleveland Museums the Asian collections are so exceptionally rich that they constitute separate units and their dépendance on the head office is mostly administrative. A special, unique case is that of the Victoria and Albert Museum where at some sections the Oriental exhibits are ranged into the wings of the corresponding branches of art. In some countries and cities Asian collections are concentrated into independent museums of Asian art, as in Köln for instance. Such museums owe their origin either to a famous collector, as in the case of the Musée Cernouschi or they were established by uniting various smaller collections. A good example to this latter case is the Museum of Eastern Art at Moscow which celebrated its 50eth anniversary in 1968. Although joined administratively to the Museum of Industrial Arts at Budapest, the Francis Hopp Museum belongs to this kind of separate Oriental museums. It must be admitted, however, that in some fields the assembling of Asian materials has not been quite achieved yet in our country. The Hungarian Museum of Ethnography and the Déri Museum of Debrecen also have smaller Asian collections. On the other hand, the collection of works of art from the ancient Near East, that is of Egypt and Mesopotamia, is the task of the Antique Department of the Museum of Fine Arts. Art objects of Turkish origin have not been united either. The Museum of Industrial Art has for instance a large collection of Near Eastern, chiefly Turkish rugs, textiles and ceramics. The National Museum of Hungary also stores much Turkish material from the 16th —18th centuries and some museums in the country also have Turkish ceramics, metal objects and swords. The first and perhaps the most important problem of museums with Oriental collections is that of the acquisition of Asian works of art. I think that the great period of collection having been closed down, the extention of Asian art collections in the West is getting harder and harder. The direct purchasing of works of art in the East is getting more difficult each year. Most Asian countries have now a law for the protection of ancient monuments and works of art. The purchase on the international art market is also getting harder with the prices going upwards and the stocks being limited. By good fortune some new ways have developed here through cultural exchange and by the generosity of newly developed Asian countries. You have heard about the collections consisting mostly of modern works of art which arrived to the Hopp Museum on an exchange of presents base from the People's Republic of China and Korea, or of India and Vietnam. We can mention here that a few other Eastern European socialist states also have received similar collections from these Asian states. For instance the Far Eastern department of the Berlin State Museum was presented with old and modern Chinese works of art and the Náprstek Museum of Prague with modern Korean material.
