FERENC HOPP MUSEUM OF EASTERN ASIATIC ARTS


	Water-Moon Guanyin Bodhisattva Lacquer, early 14^th century

Currently the Chinese Collection of the Museum consists of more than 8,000 items; we are in possession of pieces of furniture, ceramics, bronzes, carvings of precious stones, paintings, statues and lacquerware. Ferenc Hopp visited China in the course of his first (1882-83), third (1903) and fifth (1913-14) round-the-world trips. Being an optician, he was intensely interested in carvings of precious stones; he also had an eye for collecting cloisonné, ceramics and sculpture.

With time, the collection was further enriched by objects purchased on Chinese trips by János Xántus (1869-70) and Jenő Zichy (1897-98), as well as pieces acquired by numerous travellers and collectors such as Béla Ágai, Dezső Bozóki, Károly Csapek, István Csók, Ottó Fettick, Lajos Iván, Károly Róbert Kertész, Marcell Nemes, Ferenc Frischauf and Vince Wartha, and by collectors of antiquities such as Sándor Donáth, Mátyás Komor, Géza Szabó, Imre Schwaiger and Vilmos Szilárd. It is to the credit of Zoltán Felvinczi Takács (b. 1880, d. 1964), the first director of the Museum, that this group of interesting and finely wrought objects was transformed into an authentic collection of art suitable to illuminating the history and representative artistic forms of Chinese art.

The earliest piece dates from the Zhou period (10^th-8^th centuries BC), while the most recent are from the second half of the 20^th century. The Collection is especially rich in ancient bronzes (the bronzes of Ordos), jade objects, Buddhist sculpture (statues of lacquer, wood, ceramics and bronze), ceramics, and 20^th-century paintings and pieces of furniture.

Györgyi Fajcsák


Seated Demon Figure from the wall of a Buddhist Temple High relief, painted earthenware, 7^th century		Jar Blue and white porcelain, 14^th century


Female Servant Cold painted pottery figure, 2^nd century A.D.	Follower of Gao Qibei: A Hermit Schroll, painted with finger, mid 18^th century		Elegant Lady Sancai-glazed pottery figures, 7^th century