Wei Qianheng (1720-1796). The Song of Tiehua. 1754
The Song of Tiehua. 1754 by Wei Qianheng (1720-1796)
Wei Qianheng (1715-1792) was native to Wuhu. As a young man, Wei hanged out with literati from Nanjing, Suzhou, and Hangzhou, the core region of the Jiangnan area. In 1751, Wei, because of his poetic talents, was received the audience by the Qianong emperor on his southern imperial trip. Wei visited Beijing immediately and was able to reconnect with his Jiangnan friends in Bejing. In 1757, Wei was awarded the position of the Ministry of the Interior (Neige zhongshu) on the emperor’s 1757 southern tour. In 1763, Wei took the third place in the national civil service exam and was appointed to compile the Records of the Unity of the Great Qing. The following poem was composed in rhyme with Liang Tongshu’s The Former Song of Tiehua. His Jiangnan friends Xie Jinpu, Wu Shanting, Chen Baoshuo also had poems in response to Liang Shanzhou.
序：汤鹏字天池，吾邑人。少工铁，与画室为邻，日窥其泼墨势。画师叱之，鹏发愤，因锻铁为山水障，寒汀孤屿，生趣宛然，传至白下，可值数十缗。然性颓放，不受促迫，故卒以技穷云。梁山舟为作长歌，因与谢金圃、吴杉亭、陈宝所和之。
Preface
Tang Peng, literary name Tianchi, came from my county (Wuhu). He became a blacksmith in youth and lived next door to a painter. He watched the painter splash ink every day. Though he was chided, Tang decided to study painting himself. He hammered iron into landscape screen, cold islets and lonely isles are vividly expressed. When sold in Baixia (Nanjing), it was worth ten taels of silver. But he is naturally decadent and dissolute, indulged himself [in wine], and did not restrain himself. Eventually he used up all his talents and died in poverty. Liang Shanzhou (Liang Tongshu) composed the chang’ge poem for him. Along with Xie Jinpu, Wu shanting (Wu Lang), and Chen Baoshuo responded in the poem as well.
荆关一去倪黄死，无人能写真山水。
Jing Hao and Guan Tong[1] left; Ni Zan and Huang Gongwang[2] have passed away,
No one can inscribe a real landscape (mountain and river).
谁从铁冶施神工，万里居然生尺咫。
Who knows that iron hammering has shown its marvelous and divine techniques (skills),
Thousands li of mountains and rivers suddenly are presented in the one-chi size iron painting.
匠心独出古无初，扬锤柳下乐何如。
His inventive mind is unique, unprecedented,
What a bliss to wave the hammer under the willow tree.
肯作两钱锥补履，直教六法归烘炉。
How could he be willing to use his hammer to simply repair shoes,
Using the hammer, he created iron painting with the Six Methods in his giant stove.
想见解衣任盘礴，烟树天然谢雕凿。
He must have taken off his clothing and devoted himself to painting[3]
Misty trees are formed naturally, without intentional carving.
百炼化为绕指柔，始信人间免毫弱。
Hammered hundreds of times, iron was softened around his fingers,
I begin to believe that rabbit hairs are too weak for painting[4]
当年作贡来梁州，越人枉解求纯钩。
Previously, when iron was sent in as a tribute from Liangzhou[5]
Yue people misunderstood about the superb hooked swords [out of tribute iron].[6]
巨识乌金写生态，寒松怪石皴清秋。
With broad knowledge, he painted the realistic sun,
Cold pines trees, grotesque stones, he used the cun method[7] for a pure autumn.
唐宋画手纷于叶，素丝转眼飞蝴蝶。
Painters of Tang and Song dynasties were as numerous as leaves
Yet plain wires suddenly turn into flying butterflies.
何以铮铮不坏身，安用金题与玉躞。
With steady uncorrupted body,
Why are gold inscriptions and jade rod needed?
独怜奇技坐天穷，江天日暮酒钱空。
It is a pity that he stayed poor with such an extraordinary skill,
Sitting by the river in the daytime, he barely had a penny for a cup of wine.
不见程郑与曹邴，冶铸竞至千人僮。
Have you not seen Cheng Zheng and Cao Bing,
Who accumulated thousands of servants with hammering and forging skills.
胡为鼓谯营邱壑，空聚六州铸大错。
Why was he willing to be watchman on the tower in order to make iron painting?
He made a big mistake of storing iron of six prefects (Liuzhou zhu da cuo).[8]
夜阑莫更弹哀弦，窃恐蕤宾一片跃。
At midnight, a string of sorrow is not plucked any more,
I am afraid that the seventh note is as pleasant as it was before.
[1] Jing Hao and Guan Tong, along with Dong Yuan and Ju Ren, are considered as four pioneers of Chinese landscape painting.
[2] Ni Zan and Huang Gongwang are two Ming painters believed to have reinvented landscape painting in imperial China.
[3] The allusion comes from Zhuangzi. It is a term for a devoted painter, who concentrated into painting so much that he sat on the ground, laying bare the arms and bosoms.
[4] Rabbit hairs are commonly used for ink painting. Painters can create powerful and resilient strokes with soft habit hair.
[5] In the Yu Gong, iron was considered as a local tribute from Liangzhou. Please consult Hongqin Yue’s The Formation of the Book Yu Gong in the middle of West Zhou.
[6] Chungau, one of five superb swards that warriors pursued during the warring states period. The Yue King pursued the production of these super swards. However, the hooked swards were blunt when they first came out, only became very superiorly sharp after being used for a while. The sword producers were killed by the Yue King wrongly.
[7] Cun is an important painting method in traditional Chinese brush and ink painting. It creates layers and textures of stone, mountains, and plants by applying different sides of brushes and various weight of inks.
[8] In the late Tang, a general Wei Bo was not happy with his arrogant subordinates recruited from six prefects. Collaborating with another General Zhu Wen, Wei was able to repel the subordinates. Zhu therefore requested resources from Wei constantly. Wei regretted the mistakes and said, “it was a cuo (mistake) that as huge as a cuo (chiseling) of iron collected from six prefectures. Late iron from six prefecture refers to huge mistakes. Here it refers to the mistake that Tang Peng made to be an iron painter, who could even barely make a living.
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