Viewing General Cao's Horse Painting at Wei Feng's House
English translation and interpretation are being reviewed.
神妙独数江都王。
将军得名三十载，
人间又见真乘黄。
曾貌先帝照夜白，
龙池十日飞霹雳。
内府殷红玛瑙盘，
婕妤传诏才人索。
盘赐将军拜舞归，
轻纨细绮相追飞。
贵戚权门得笔迹，
始觉屏障生光辉。
昔日太宗拳毛騧，
近时郭家狮子花。
今之新图有二马，
复令识者久叹嗟。
此皆骑战一敌万，
缟素漠漠开风沙。
其余七匹亦殊绝，
迥若寒空动烟雪。
霜蹄蹴踏长楸间，
马官厮养森成列。
可怜九马争神骏，
顾视清高气深稳。
借问苦心爱者谁，
后有韦讽前支遁。
忆昔巡幸新丰宫，
翠华拂天来向东。
腾骧磊落三万匹，
皆与此图筋骨同。
自从献宝朝河宗，
无复射蛟江水中。
君不见金粟堆前松柏里，
龙媒去尽鸟呼风。
English translation
Since the founding of the dynasty, in painting horses with saddle, the divine subtlety belongs alone to the Prince of Jiangdu.
The general won his fame thirty years ago, and once more the world has seen a true Chenghuang steed.
He once portrayed the late emperor's Shining White by Night, and for ten days the Dragon Pool flew with thunder.
In the inner treasury was a deep-red agate plate, the imperial consort passed the decree, the lady of the palace asked for it.
The plate was granted to the general, who bowed and danced his way home, light gauze and fine damask following one another.
When the noble kin and the powerful got his brushwork, they felt at last that their screens had gained a radiance.
In other days there was Taizong's Curly-Haired Guo, and lately the Guo family's Lion Blossom.
In this new painting here are two horses, which once more make the connoisseurs sigh and marvel.
These are chargers, one a match for ten thousand, on the plain silk, dim and wide, the wind-blown sands open out.
The other seven are also quite extraordinary, remote as the cold sky stirring smoke and snow.
Hooves white as frost tread among the tall catalpas, grooms and stable boys drawn up in close array.
Loveliest of all, nine horses vying in divine fleetness, their glances remote and lofty, their spirit deep and steady.
I ask who it is that loves them with a devoted heart: Wei Feng in later times, Zhi Dun before.
I recall the imperial progress to the palace at Xinfeng, when kingfisher banners swept the sky, coming from the east.
Thirty thousand horses prancing, noble and free, all with the same bone and sinew as these in the picture.
Since the treasures were presented and the court went to the River Lord, there has been no more shooting of the dragon in the river.
Do you not see, before the Golden Millet Mound, among the pines and cypresses, the dragon steeds are all gone, and only birds cry in the wind?
Meaning
Of all the painters skilled in horses since the founding of the dynasty, the most marvellous and lifelike is the Prince of Jiangdu alone.
For thirty years General Cao has been famed for his horses; once more the true divine steed Chenghuang of old is seen among men.
Once he painted White-That-Shines-by-Night, the steed of the late Emperor Xuanzong; it is like a dragon soaring from a pool, and within ten days the rumour of it thundered abroad.
From the red agate plate treasured in the palace store came a decree by the hands of a lady of the harem to fetch it forth.
The general received the plate, bowed in gratitude for the imperial favour, and went home; fine light silks followed one another in swift succession.
Whichever of the noble kinsmen obtained a scroll from General Cao's own brush felt that the screens of his mansion had gained fresh lustre.
In those days there was the famed charger Curly-Mane of Emperor Taizong; in recent times the fine Lion-Flower of the house of Guo Ziyi.
Now in this new painting are these very two horses, so that all who know horses sigh and praise them long.
These are war steeds of the kind that vanquish ten thousand with one; unroll the silk and it is as though one saw the galloping horses raise the wind-blown sand.
Background
Read the background
This poem was written at Chengdu in 764 (the second year of the Guangde era). In the early years of the Tang dynasty the Prince of Jiangdu, Li Xu, was skilled at painting horses; Zhang Yanyuan's Record of Famous Paintings Through the Ages says of him that he "possessed many talents, was accomplished in calligraphy and painting, and was renowned for his horses." By the Kaiyuan and Tianbao periods Cao Ba had brought the painting of horses to a miraculous pitch and enjoyed still greater fame; Zhao Zi'ang said, "Many Tang painters excelled at horses, but Cao and Han (Gan) were the finest of all" (quoted in Tang Hou's Mirror of Painting). In the second year of the Guangde era, Du Fu saw at the Chengdu home of Wei Feng, recording officer (lushi canjun) of Langzhou, the latter's treasured scroll "Nine Horses" (perhaps painted for Wei Feng by Cao Ba while he was sojourning at Chengdu), and thereafter wrote this poem on a painting.