Szilágyi András (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 18. (Budapest, 1999)

Maria FERENCZY: The formation of the Hopp-collection. On the 80th anniversary of the foundation of the Ferenc Hopp Museum of Eastern Asiatic Arts

NOTES ; His biography is by Marianne Felvinczi Takács: Hopp Ferenc [Ferenc Hopp, A Biography, in Hungarian with an abstract in English]. In: Keletkutatás 1994. pp. 7-24, cf. also Mária Ferenczy - Károly Kineses: Mandarin riding a mule. Ferenc Hopp and the Hungarian Photography. Ferenc Hopp Museum - Hungarian Museum of Photography, 1999 (in Hungarian with an abstract and annotation to illustrations in English). 2 See Zoltán Felvinczi Takács: Hopp Ferenc gyűjteménye [Ferenc Hopp's Collection]. In: Magyar Iparművészet, Vol. XVD. (1914), pp. 68, 77-80, 85-89., 1914. - The first book of inventory was started by Ferenc Hopp himself, to all appearances, however, was engaged to lay down it in his last years only (cf. Ferenc Hopp Museum, Documentation Department - hereafter abbreviated as HMDD - No.: A 4249). The inventory was continued by Zoltán Felvinczi Takács, by marking at each entry the later fate of the object. So this inventory can be considered first and foremost as a valuable document of the formation of the Museum and should deserve special treatment. A regular register that meets professional standards and is suitable for the identification of the objects, however, is of later origin. 3 Ferenc Hopp obtained his journeyman's certificate in 1851, from 1853 worked for two years in Vienna at the optician firm Weinberger. In 1857 he crossed the Atlantic (this meant still sixteen days of sailing then) to get acquainted with the development of trade and industry in the country of practice, in the United States. He worked in New York City as an optician, in the shop of the optician and mechanic Benoit Kahn. He returned to Hungary in the summer of 1861, with professional and trade experiences rare in Hungary then. See the jubilee album entitled "Hopp Ferencnek, a szeretett főnöknek ötven éves üzleti tevékenysége emlékére", 1895. évi július 19-én [To Ferenc Hopp, our beloved boss in commemorating the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of his business activity, July 19, 1895] (n. p., pp. 16, illustrated - hereafter quoted as "Jubilee album, 1895"), p. 12. 4 The route of his travels around the world has been reconstructed by Marianne Felvinczi Takács, op. cit. pp. 11-19, on a map pp. 14—15. To my knowledge the travel notes made by Ferenc Hopp did not survive; there exists, on the other hand, a number of his letters that might be truly regarded as travel records. Various kinds of trifles collected by him as keepsakes (not only objects, but also hotel bills, laundry lists, visiting cards, menu cards, tickets) also survived (those from his first travel around the world e. g. were carefully arranged chronologically and put into an album — see HMDD No.: A 1300). 5 Out of this collection of optical and meteorological instruments eighty-eight pieces were exhibited in 1896 on the Millennial Exhibition - there is a catalogue by Miklós Konkoly-Thege: Optikai és mechanikai régiségek Hopp Ferenc (Calderoni és Társa czég tulajdonosának) gyűjteményéből [Optical and mechanical antiquities from the collection of Ferenc Hopp (owner of the firm Calderoni and Co.). In: A Magyar Királyi Országos Meteorológiai Intézet Pavilonjának magyarázattal ellátolt különleges catalogusa. [An annotated special catalogue of the Pavilion of the Hungarian Royal National Institute of Meteorology], Szerkesztette [Edited by] Konkoly Miklós, Budapest 1896, pp. 39-42. 6 His papers that were published in separate volumes: Téli utazás a Földközi-tenger körül fek\>ő országokban [Winter Journey in the Mediterranean Countries], 1898 - quoted hereafter as Ferenc Hopp, 1898 -; Kirándulásom Afrika nyugati partján Kamerun érintésével a Kongóhoz £My Excursion Down the West Coast of Africa to Congo, by Way of Cameroon], 1901; Hopp Ferencz utazása a Föld körül Szibérián át [Ferenc Hopp's Journey round the World by Way of Siberia], 1904 - quoted hereafter as Ferenc Hopp, 1904 -. These works were published in periodicals also, in: Földrajzi Közlemények Vol. XXVI.