Gosztonyi Ferenc - Király Erzsébet - Szücs György szerk.: A Magyar Nemzeti Galéria Évkönyve 2002-2004. 24/9 (MNG Budapest, 2005)

STUDIES - Shinji Tanaka: On Bertalan Székely's Japanese Woman, 1871

the expedition, which were available to the artist in great abundance.'

23 It was in late May 1871 that an East Asian show was opened in an enormous gallery at the natural history department of the National Museum, where Xántus exhibited a selection of artefacts he himself had collected.

24 This exhibition was the first opportunity for the Hungarian public to encounter East Asian art.

25 János Xántus (1825-1894) took part in the AustroHungarian expedition setting out for East Asia in October 1868. In 1869, while in Japan, Xántus parted company with the expedition and continued gathering artefacts on his own. He returned to Hungary in November 1870, bringing with him over 350,000 natural history specimens and 2,690 ethnographic artefacts. Jókai paid a visit to the National Museum as early as late November 1870 to see the collection gathered by Xántus in Eastern Asia, while the items were still in the process of being unpacked.

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" It is possible that Székely studied the objects similarly, before the exhibition was opened. We also know that the Japanese artefacts, weapons, garments, and other items of ethnographic interest, collected by Géza Bernáth (1845-1882), a member of the same expedition, had been on show at the OMKT exhibition held in May and June of the same year, 1870.

27 Székely had also taken part in that show. In light of these data it is indeed probable that the theme of the Japanese Woman had been on Székely's mind since 1870. Several items listed in the catalogue of the Xántus collection appear to be identical to the Japanese objects depicted in the painting Japanese Woman: 'Wooden hairpins', 'Face, lip and nostril brushes made with plant fibres and feathers', 'Silken attire of a noble lady, richly embroidered with gold and silk threads', 'Graceful mat designs of coloured weeds, also used as floor mats', 'Toilette cabinet', etc.

28 According to a contemporary journalist, 'lady visitors will see practically all the articles their Chinese and Japanese sisters use for their toilette: mirrors, paraphernalia, cloths, even dolls in full attire...'

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" Unfortunately, the whereabouts of these objects remain largely unknown. Of the articles comparable to objects in the painting, only one has survived: a mirror currently housed in the Museum of Ethnography may be one of the two mirrors formerly in the Xántus collection.

30 (Fig. 2) The pattern of the mirror case is identical to that of the mirror case seen in the Japanese Woman. The only difference is in the arrangement of the design. The pattern of both mirror cases is composed of kooyo and hanare shippo. Kooyo is a pattern of nine wheels, while hanare shippo is a multitude of sometimes intertwining, sometimes diverging patterns in an oval frame. In addition to these patterns, a bird and a tree can be seen on the mirror case in the painting. Why did Székely go to see the Xántus collection? We do not know whether any acquaintance of Székely's 2. Lacquered mirror case, Japan, second half of the 19th century. Museum of Ethnography, Budapest might have called his attention to Japan. We do not know of any direct connection between Xántus and Székely. The only thing they had in common was that both were members of the Hungarian Ethnographic Society, founded in 1890.

31 Lajos (Ludwig) Hevesi, the author of the aforementioned article in the Pester Lloyd in 1871 and the novel based on the life of Jelky, later, in a book entitled Acht Jahre Sezession, also published his reviews of contemporary Japanese art.

32 Hevesi 's library contained thirty-five books on Japanese art, some of which were genuine Japanese books with illustrations.

33 We have no accurate knowledge of the circumstances under which Hevesi met Székely, nor of how close their relationship was.

34 Most probably, it was the Minister of Culture, Baron József Eötvös who called Székely's attention to the Xántus collection. It was he who had persuaded Székely to return to Hungary, becoming one of the painter's most influential patrons. It was also he who appointed Xántus to the expedition to East Asia, assigning significant funds for the undertaking. According to the instructions received from Eötvös, Xántus was to pay special attention to ethnographic considerations, in other words, to gather an ample and representative collection of traditional Eastern artefacts.

35 AN EXAMINATION OF THE JAPANESE WOMAN Most likely Székely had observed the actual objects depicted in the painting. In addition, he also must have seen a painting or photograph representing the theme in order to have painted such a true-to-life depiction of a Japanese woman at her toilette. Left to his own resources, he may not have arranged the Japanese articles he was familiar with into such a realistic composition. Probably Székely had several sources to rely on for motifs.