Weiner Mihályné szerk.: Az Iparművészeti Múzeum Évkönyvei 10. (Budapest, 1967)
HOPP FERENC MÚZEUM - MUSÉE FERENC HOPP - Huszár, Flórián: Three Wood-cuts from the Time of Boxer Rising
men-of-war, soldiers are on them who are shooting. There are also guns on the beaks and the English and German men-of-war put fire on the fortress to be seen in the upper left corner, behind that Chinese soldiers lined up and they also put fire on the men-of-war. The inscription of the fortress: Takuk'ou, Western gun-fortress. In the fortress, on the flags of the soldiers are such characters: Ma (Yü-k'un), Nieh (Shih-ch eng), Tung (Fu-hsiang). Before the flag furnished with the inscription "Tung" is standing Tung Fu-hsiang himself, with a little flag in his hand on which is written: command (ling). There are Russian, Japanese, English, French and German men-of-war on the sea. In the right upper corner there is an inscription: The warships having occupied the 22 nd of the 6 th month the Takuk'ou gun-fortress, w 7 anted to attack again on the Western one. But the general Tung Fu-hsiang (chünmen) heading a great army returned this firing. Both parties suffered losses and one of them could w T in in this clash — as it is said. The title of the 3 rd picture : The general Tung (Fu-hsiang) w r on a victory at Pei-ts'ang. Inscription: The 6 th of the Seventh month the allied forces advanced and scouted in the direction of Pei-ts'ang. The troops of Tung (Fuhsiang) and those of Ma (Yü-k'un) attacked on the enemy from all sides, inflicted great defeat and after that put it to flight. It is said—that during the battle the Russian troops of the allied forces suffered the greatest loss. The picture represents a hilly landscape, the aggressors are on the right side while the Chinese troops on the left one. On the left side the general (chün-men) Tung (Fu-hsiang) personally commands a Chinese troop. Tung's figure is exactly as represented as on the 2 nd picture. In the middle of the picture w r e can see flighting troops persued by Chinese soldiers. Inscription : The Japanese army suffered an enormous loss. We can find an indication to the provenance of these w r ood-cuts only on the 1 st one. It's probable, that all the three ones are made by the same master and are originated from the same place. The uniform style and conception prove it as w 7 ell as the similarity of content of these cuts. The master's standpoint is explicitly patriotic, he condemns the imperialist intervention. But it is clear, that the artist cut them on the basis of uncertain informations. It can be proved easily by an examination of the content that these cuts represent rather gossips, hearsayings than real facts.The first picture represents an attack against the Tientsin settlement. Here, for instance we may find Tung (Fu-hsiang)'s name on a flag, but in this battle Tung Fu-hsiang's troops didn't take part. But Nieh (Shih-ch eng) was really present there and he played an important role in the battles. He died in the battle of 9 th July ;i . The 2 I,d cut doesn't show us real events either, its date is erroneous as well. According to the inscription this attack would have taken place the 22 nd of Sixth month immediately after the occupation of Taku-fortress. But this fortress — according to the European Calendar—was already occupied the 17 th June (Sixth month) by the aggressors. According to the Moon-calendar this date is even less acceptable. The 22 nd June of the Moon-calendar is however conform to the 18 th July (Seventh month) of Gregorian Calendar. At that time Tientsin was already occupied by the imperialists. It was from 14 th July in the hands of them. On the wood-cut this event is so represented that Tung Fu-hsiang commanded the battle. In fact, neither he nor his soldiers were present, because 3 Chin Chia-jui: I-ho-t'uan yün-tung, Shang-hai jonmin ch'u-pan-she, 19G2. p. 120.
