Szilágyi András (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 24. (Budapest, 2006)

Béla KELÉNYI: Two Trunks from London. Hungarian aspects of the 'discovery' of Nepalese art

director of the Hopp Museum, and Károly Fábri, an Indologist, opened the plinth of the statue in 1926. Inside, they found, among other things, sixteen paper slips with Tibetan texts, one coin, one wooden pin (Tib.: srog shing), and grains. Archives of the Ferenc Hopp Museum. A 1412. 53 See Gellner, David N.: 'The Consecration of a Vajra master'. In: Les habitants du Toit du monde (ed. Samten Karmay, Philippe Sagant). Nanterre: Société d'ethnologie, 1997, pp. 665-666. For artefacts belonging to various collections, see Béguin, Gilles: 'A propos d'une tiare d'officiant bouddhique". In: La Revue du Louvre et des Musées de France, no. 3, 1984, pp. 176-183. For similar artefacts, see Christie's, Amsterdam, Tuesday, 11 October 1994 issue, p. 23, nos. 54-56. 54 In the Zimmermann Family Collection. See Pal, Pratapaditya: Art of the Himalayas. New York: Hudson Hills Press, 1991, pp. 48-49 55 Huntington, John C. - Bangdel, Dina: The Circle of Bliss: Buddhist Meditational Art. Chicago: Serinda Publications, 2003, pp. 224-227. 56 A similar gesture can bee seen on a 10

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lh-century Indian statue of a yoginl (see Casey, Jane - Naman Parmeshwar Ahuja - Weldon, David: Divine Presence: Arts of India and the Himalayas. Barcelona: Casa Asia, 2003, pp. 86—87), and on an Indian Devï figure (see Linrothe, Rob Watt, Jeff: Demonic Divine: Himalayan Art and Beyond. New York - Chicago: Rubin Museum of Art and Serinda Publications, 2004, p. 245). " With regard to future research, I am indebted to Erberto Lo Bue, Christian Lutzanits and David Weldon for their valuable advice. 58 On its role, see Alsop, Ian: 'Repoussé in Nepal'. In: Orientations, July, 1986, p. 24. 59 See for example Olson, Eleanor: "A Nepalese Mandorla at Newark, New Jersey'. In: Oriental Art, 1960, vol. VI, no. 4, pp. 148-149; Sotheby's, Indian and Southeast Asian Art, New York, 25 March 1999 issue, p. 22, no. 18. 60 Hendley, Thomas Holbein: 'Indian Jewellery. Rajputana and Malwa of Central India, Part IF. In: Journal of Indian Art and Industiy, 1909, vol. XII, nos. 95-107, pp. 141-142, Pis. 120-123, 130-131. 61 Casey Singer, Jane: Gold Jewellery from Tibet and Nepal. London: Thames and Hudson, 1996, pp. 36-37, 44-45. 62 The Journal of Indian Art and Industry, 1909, p. 37. 63 See Hopkirk, Peter: Quest for Kim. Oxford - New York: Oxford University Press, 1997, pp. 198-199. M Nadelhoffer, Hans: Cartier. London: Thames and Hudson, 1984, p. 178; Rudoe, Judy: Cartier. London: British Museum Press, 1997, pp. 162-163; Kelényi: op. cit., p. 61. 65

1 am indebted to Gábor Juhász, restorer at the Museum of Applied Arts in Budapest, for identifying the precious stones. 66 Casey Singer, J.: op. cit., figs. 33, 34. 6

' General Register of the Museum of Applied Arts, Budapest, Nos. 12.208, 12.217-12.223. 68 For a similar artefact, see Christie's, Amsterdam, Tuesday, 11 October 1994 issue, p. 15, no. 10. Clarke, John: Ga'u: 'The Tibetan Amulet Box'. In: Arts of Asia, 2001, vol. 31, no. 3, p. 61. 70 Untracht, Oppi: Traditional Jewellery of India. London: Thames and Hudson, 1997, p. 145. 71 Clarke: op. cit., p. 61; Untracht: op. cit. p. 141. 72 Lo Bue, Erberto: "The Newar Artists of the Nepal Valley -1'. In: Oriental Art, 1985, vol. XXXI, no. 3, p. 271. 73 Grönbold, Günther: Tibetische Buchdeckel. München: Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, 1991, p. 14. 74 Grönbold: ibid., p. 17. 75 Baktay was interested in translating the inscriptions and made attempts to identify the date of their production. See Baktay: 'Nepáli fémplasztika...', op. cit., p. 302. 76 See G. V. Vajracharya's explanation and Vajracharya, Gautama. V: 'The Nepali Inscriptions'. In: Pal, Pratapaditya: Himalayas: An Aesthetic Adventure. Chicago: The Art Institute of Chicago, 2003, p. 279. 77 Although widely used, it does not appear in the inscriptions of the statues discussed above. 78 On the Manjughosa statues a variation (sudi) appears. 7

" Although the inscriptions on the statues discussed in this article use the Nepalese calendar, there are inscriptions that apply the Œaka calendar (first year: 78 B.C.) and the Vikrama calendar (first year: 57 B.C.). The last mentioned is to this day the system most widely used in India. 80 For Newar religious rituals, see Gellner: Monk, Householder..., op. cit., pp. 135-137. 81 Vajracharya gives the following explanation: 'Such occasional references to the artists may give an impression that in earlier Nepali society an artist was not highly esteemed and the community of artists did not care about receiving proper credit for their work. This is not entirely true. As we know from some rare examples, if the donor himself is the artist, the inscription always records his responsibility for his creation.' Vajracharya: op. cit., p. 279. 82 See Vajracharya: op. cit., p. 279.