Aklan, Anna : Land of Buddhas - GANDHĀRA. Indo-Greek Sculptures of the Ferenc Hopp Museum of Asiatic Arts
Anna Aklan,
Land of Buddhas - GANDHĀRA. Indo-Greek Sculptures of the Ferenc Hopp Museum of Asiatic Arts
Budapest 2024
ISBN
978-615-81396-7-0
252 S./pp., zahlr. Farb-Abb./num. colour figs., 32 x 23 cm;
broschiert/softcover
The Ferenc Hopp Museum of Asiatic Arts, Budapest, holds eighty-one
Gandhāran statues. Exquisite Buddha and bodhisattva statues are
included in this collection, which comprise a representative group of
this unique Hellenistic style Buddhist school of sculpture. Almost
the entire collection was gifted to the institution by Imre
Schwaiger, a Hungarian-born, internationally acclaimed art dealer and
connoisseur in the first half of the twentieth century. Although the
most outstanding statues have been exhibited at the museum since they
arrived, the first occasion when the entire collection was put on
display took place only this year, in 2024, when the temporary
exhibition Land of Buddhas. Gandhāra opened its doors to the
visitors. Accompanying the exhibition, for the very first time, a
comprehensive catalogue of all the artworks of the Gandhāran
collection, illustrated with fresh and artistic photographs, is
published. The English
catalogue is a much-abridged version of the Hungarian original. The
reason behind this is that English-language readers have easier
access to the rich literature available on The English version thus
contains only the most important elements that are unique to the
Ferenc Hopp Museum of Asiatic Arts in Budapest. It includes the
description of each Gandhāran sculpture in the collection, which is
complemented by a study on conservation of the statues written by
Zoltan Hering, stone conservator at the Museum of Fine Arts,
Budapest, who handled the statues and conducted material analyses. A
detailed study on the life of Imre Schwaiger is also placed in the
present volume to give an account of this generous art expert and his
interesting life, starting out from Hungary and building a successful
art dealership in India and in London.
Anmelden