Wind and Snow in the Fir Pines

Fastening Pin:

1. 乾隆御詠：李山《風雪杉松圖》
Wind and Snow in the Fir-pines, by Li Shan; [with] poem by His Majesty Qianlong.

Outside Label:

2. 金李山《風雪杉松圖》。辛丑祀竈月，西蠡。
Wind and Snow in the Fir-pines, by Li Shan of the Jin dynasty. [Inscribed] in the month of sacrificing to the god of the hearth [the twelfth lunar month] in the xinchou year [January 10–February 7, 1902], Xili [Fei Nianci].

Inside Label:

3. 李山《風雪杉松圖》
Wind and Snow in the Fir-pines, by Li Shan

Artist Inscription:

4. 平陽李山製
Made by Li Shan of Pingyang.

Other Inscription:

5. 千峰如睡玉為皴，落落孥空本色真，茅屋把書寒不輟，斯人應是友松人。
乾隆御題。
[Poem not translated]. Inscribed by the Qianlong emperor.

Colophons:

6. 繞院千千萬萬峰，滿天風雪打杉松，地壚火暖黃昏睡，更有何人似我慵。
此參寥詩，非本色住山人，不能作也。黃華真逸書。書後客至，曰賈島詩也。未知孰是。

Surrounding the yard—a thousand, ten-thousand peaks,
Filling the sky, wind and snow smite the fir-pines.
Fire glows in the ground stove, at dusk I fall asleep,
Is there anyone else in the world so indolent as I?

This is a poem by Canliao [11th century]. Only one with a natural inclination to live among mountains could have composed it. Inscribed by the True Recluse of Huanghua [Yellow Flower Mountain]. A visitor came after I had written this, who said that the poem is by Jia Dao [779–849], but I do not know who is right.

7. 此老在泰和間，猶入直于祕書監。予始識之，時年幾八十矣，而精力不少衰。每于屋壁間喜作大樹石，退而睨之，乃自歎曰：『今老矣，始解作畫！』。非真積力久，功夫至到，其融渾成就處，斷未易省識。今觀此《風雪杉松圖》，其精緻如此。至敹年自負其能，亦未為過，而世俗豈能真有知之者？故先人翰林書前人詩以品題之，蓋將置此老于古人之地也。覽之『使人增感』云。癸卯六月廿有二日，萬慶謹書。

During the Taihe reign period [1201–09], this old fellow [Li Shan] was still serving as Director of the Palace Library, and though he was indeed nearly eighty when I first made his acquaintance, his energy had not diminished in the slightest. Whenever he felt happy about some mural he had painted of great trees and rocks, he would step back and squint at it, then sigh to himself saying, ―Now that I’m old, I’m beginning to understand how to paint!‖ Had he truly not built up his strength for a long time and attained such a level of proficiency, his harmonious achievement certainly would not be so easy to know. Now the skill and finesse one sees in Wind and Snow in the Fir-pines are like this. But while it is no fault for someone late in years to trust in his own ability, can anyone in the mundane world truly understand him? Therefore when my deceased father [Wang Tingyun, who was a member of ] the Hanlin Academy, wrote out the poem by some earlier person as an appraisal [of Li’s character], it must have been to place the old fellow on the same ground as the ancient masters. Reading at it, as they say, ―makes one feel more deeply.‖ Twenty-second day in the sixth lunar-month of the guimao year [July 10, 1243], respectfully written by [Wang] Wanqing.

8. 右金秘書監李山畫《風雪杉松圖》，而黃華老人王庭筠題參寥詩於後。二君皆宋名家子，為完顏氏禁近有聲。余偶得二絕句，題其後云：『撲地漫天卒未休，松杉千尺迥堪愁，丹青不作王孫草，老向明天共白頭』。又，『朝色蔥曨映碧虛，千峰瑤草漸凋踈，何當長白山頭樹，到了枝枝玉不如』。今二君而在，不免泚顙。然李用筆瀟洒，清絕有致，出蹊逕外；庭筠翩翩，遂入海岳庵三昧，皆可寶也。此君僅四十有七而沒，然時時自稱黃華老人，極可笑。跋後所謂萬慶者，仕至行省右司郎中，金史誤作『曼慶』，當以此為正。隆慶戊辰夏六月，吳郡王世貞謹題。

At right is the picture Wind and Snow in the Fir-pines painted by Li Shan, Director of the Palace Library during the Jin dynasty. Following it Old Man Yellow Flower, Wang Tingyun, inscribed a poem by Canliao [see Colophon 1]. Both gentlemen were descendents of famous Song-dynasty families and were renowned courtiers close to the [imperial] Wanyan clan. I have casually composed two quatrains to inscribe at the end [of the scroll], as follows: [poems not translated].If the two gentlemen [Li and Wang] were here today, I’d not be able to stop perspiring [from embarassment]. For Li’s brushwork is free and easy, exceptionally clear and fine, and goes outside the normal path, while [Wang] Tingyun’s [calligraphy] is smooth and elegant, and achieves the samadhi [full realization] of Haiyue’an [Mi Fu, 1051–1107]. Both [works] can be treasured. The [latter] gentleman was barely in his forty-seventh year when he died, yet he always referred to himself as Old Man Yellow Flower, which is extremely funny. At the end of the [second] colophon, the person who calls himself Wanqing attained the rank of Bureau Director of the Right Office in the Branch Secretariat. The History of the Jin Dynasty mistakenly writes [his name as] Manqing, so one should use the [signature] here to correct [this error].Summer, sixth lunar-month of the wuchen year in the Longqing reign period [June 25–July 23, 1568], respectfully inscribed by Wang Shizhen of Wujun.

9. 此卷向嘗觀于金陵，每在夢想，今復得再觀，不勝欣慰。時友人錢叔寶、顧季狂、尤子求在坐。記之者，五峰山人文伯仁也。隆慶戊辰六月既望大暑中，敬元美出此，真奇賞哉！

I previously saw this scroll in Jinling [modern Nanjing], and it has remained in my dreams [ever since], so I am overcome with joy to have the opportunity now to see it again. My friends Qian Shubao [Qian Gu, 1508–after 1578], Gu Jikuang [Gu Shengzhi, active late-16th century], and You Ziqiu [You Qiu, active ca. 1670–1690], are seated here with me. The one recording this [event] is Wufeng shanren, Wen Boren. On the day after the full moon [sixteenth day] in the sixth lunar-month of the wuchen year in the Longqing reign period [July 10, 1568], during the period of Great Heat, [the brothers] Jingmei [Wang Shimao, 1536–1588] and Yuanmei [Wang Shizhen, 1526–1590] brought out this [painting for us to see]. It was truly a rare viewing experience!

10. 乾隆二十八年春孟六日，皇帝御重華宮，召廷臣共二十四人賜宴，臣啟豐蒙恩與焉。有頃，御製律詩二章，既命臣等賡和，又特頒內府鑒藏名人畫卷各一。臣啟豐得《風雪杉松圖》，頓首祗受。宴畢攜歸邸舍，展閱是圖，為金泰和間祕書監李山畫，係絹本。凡大小杉松十一樹，諸峰層列，隱隱有寒沍色。茅屋蕭然，有人據案執卷。堂前眾樹聳立，直榦喬枝風雪中，不可撓屈，元陰蘢蓯，又若俯翳其下。蓋金去宋未遠，其樹石皴染，皆守宋人家法。後有黃華真逸王庭筠書參寥詩，明王世貞跋稱其筆法直入海岳之室。黃華之子萬慶續為之題，而弇州山人稿又謂李山此卷『用筆瀟洒，出蹊逕外』。然則此圖自完顏氏以來，膾炙名賢且數百載。伏讀御製七言絕句，意思深長，豪端渾脫，圓神方智，別具罏錘。此卷足以不朽矣。抑臣啟豐於客，冬奉命擢左都御史，天章下賁，凜然勉以後凋之節。皇極所敷，使樗櫟下材，蒙被雨露，克終保其天，而免於斧斤之患，誠不勝厚幸焉。其籤碧玉，為之刻『乾隆御詠：李山《風雪杉松圖》』八分十一字。其印章：曰『石渠寶笈』、曰『三希堂精鑒璽』、曰『乾隆御覽之寶』、曰『宜子孫』、曰『得佳趣』、曰『幾暇怡情』、曰『乾隆鑑賞』、曰『珍祕』、曰『子孫保之』。舊有：『平陽』、『乾坤清賞』、『有明王氏圖書之印』、『江表黃琳』、『休伯』、『安儀周家珍藏』、『梁清標印』、『蕉林鑒定』、『蕉林祕玩』、『鼎元』、『仲雅』、『顧九德』、『嚴澤』、『張羽鈞』之印。其在後方者，不具錄。前有標題七字，當是明王穉登書。賜進士及第、光祿大夫、都察[左]院左都御史、直南書房臣彭啟豐敬記。

御賜大司馬彭公金李山《風雪杉松圖》卷。公恭紀顛末，未及自書。頃公已下世，公子紹升屬前翰林侍讀王文治補書。時乾隆五十一年夏孟九日。

On the sixth day of the first spring month in the twenty-eighth year of the Qianlong reign-period [February 18, 1763], the August Emperor rode to the Chonghua Palace and summoned court ministers, altogether twenty-four in number, to be given a banquet, and I your subject [Peng] Qifeng, received the Imperial Favor to be among them. After a while, His Majesty composed two stanzas of regulated verse and commanded His ministers and others [to create] matching poems, and He also made a special gift to each [of the twenty-four courtiers] of a scroll from the Imperial Household Collection painted by a famous artist. I your subject [Peng] Qifeng received Wind and Snow in the Fir-pines, bowing my head respectfully to accept [the scroll]. After the banquet, I took it back to my official residence and rolled out the picture to examine it. [The painting] was done on silk by Li Shan, the Director of the Palace Library during the Taihe reign period [1201–09] of the Jin dynasty. There are a total of eleven fir-pines large and small, and ranges of peaks in serried ranks, unclear and indistinct with a cold and freezing look. The thatched hut is desolate and bare, and there is a person [inside] grasping the table and holding a scroll. In front of the hall, a stand of trees towers up, with straight trunks and lofty branches lifting into the snowy wind. They cannot be cowed or made to bend, and stay luxuriantly green [throughout the winter season] of the Primal Yin, seeming to lean over and shelter what lies below. As the Jin dynasty was not very long after the [Northern] Song, the texture strokes and use of [ink] wash on the trees and stones were influenced by the styles of Song-dynasty artists. Following [the painting] is a poem of Canliao [11th century] written out by the True Recluse of Yellow Flower [Mountain], Wang Tingyun. The colophon by Wang Shizhen of the Ming dynasty [see Colophon 3, above] praises his calligraphy [by stating that] his style of brushwork directly entered the chamber of Haiyue [Mi Fu, 1051–1107]. Yellow Flower’s son, [Wang] Wanqing, added a further inscription to [the scroll]. The manuscript by the Mountain Man of Yanzhou [Wang Shizhen] says that in this scroll Li Shan’s ―brushwork is free and easy, and goes outside the normal path.‖ All this being so, then from the [imperial] Wanyan clan [of the Jin dynasty] on down, this picture has been relished by famous worthies for several hundred years. I humbly read the quatrain in seven-character lines composed by His Majesty, and its thought is profound and eternal. The brushwork is effortless and untrammeled, the round [strokes are done] with spirit and the square with intelligence, each one specially forged and tempered. This scroll is worthy indeed of immortality! During the winter, when I your subject [Peng] Qifeng was in residence [at court], I received the Imperial Command promoting me to Left Censor-in-Chief. The Celestial Certificate descended, sternly enjoining me to maintain the moral integrity [of the pine], which is the last to wither [in winter].
As the Dispensation of the August Throne caused [me], this inferior timber of ailanthus and chestnut oak, to receive [the benefits of] rain and dew and shall forever safeguard their days, averting all harm from axe and hatchet, I was truly overwhelmed by [the Emperor’s] Generosity and Kindness. He had the [scroll’s] fastening pin of green jade carved with eleven characters in clerical script [reading], “Wind and Snow in the Fir-pines, by Li Shan; [with] a poem by His Majesty Qianlong.‖ His seals [on the painting] read: Shiqu baoji, Sanxitang jingjian xi, Qianlong yulan zhi bao, Yi zisun, De jiaqu, Jixia yiqing, Qianlong jianshang, Zhenmi,13 and Zisun bao zhi. [The scroll also] has earlier [seals reading]: Pingyang, Qiankun qingshang, You Ming Wang shi tushu zhi yin, Jiangbiao Huang Lin, Xiubo, An Yizhou jiazhencang, Liang Qingbiao yin, Jiaolin jianding, Jiaolin miwan, Dingyuan,14Zhongya, Gu Jiude,15Yan Ze, and Zhang Yujun.16 I have not transcribed the collector seals on the [colophon] section behind [the painting]. The seven-character [text] on the inside label slip in front [of the painting] must have been written by Wang Zhideng [1535–1612] of the Ming dynasty. Respectfully recorded by the Metropolitan Graduate with Honors, Grand Master for Splendid Happiness, and Left Censor-in-Chief of the Surveillance Bureau, on duty in the Southern Study, your subject Peng Qifeng.

The scroll Wind and Snow in the Fir-pines, by Li Shan of the Jin dynasty, was bestowed by His Majesty on the Commander-in-chief, Lord Peng,17 who respectfully recorded [the event] from beginning to end, but did not get around to writing it [on the scroll] himself. As the Lord recently passed away, his son [Peng] Shaosheng [1740–1796] instructed me, the former Reader-in-waiting in the Hanlin Academy, Wang Wenzhi, to add his text [to the scroll]. It is the ninth day in the fourth lunar-month of the fifty-first year in the Qianlong reign period [May 6, 1786].