Growing up in a traditional scholarly family in Changshu, Jiangsu province, Weng Tonghe (1830–1904) received a classical education and was interested in calligraphy and painting, collecting and connoisseurship. Although he never regarded himself as a distinguished calligrapher, he was admired as “the only calligrapher after the Qianlong and Jiaqing periods,”[Qing] Xu Ke徐珂 (1869–1928), Qingbai leichao清俾類鈔, in Ma Zonghuo馬宗霍, Shulin zaojian書林藻鑑, Vol.12. See Shulin zaojian shulin jishi書林藻鑑書林紀事 (Beijing: wenwu chubanshe, 2003): 242. and “the number one calligrapher in the Tongzhi and Guangxu periods.”[Qing] Yang Shoujing楊守敬 (1839–1915), Shuxue eryan pingshu書學邇言評書, in Shulin zaojian shulin jishi書林藻鑑書林紀事: 243.

This fan features the character “hu” (tiger虎) in cursive script. It is followed by a line from Su Shi 蘇軾 (1037–1101)’s poem, titled One of five poems written on the day of the Dragon Boat Festival (Duanwu jie), for the Imperial concubine (Duanwu tiezi ci huang taifei ge wushou 端午帖子詞‧皇太妃閣五首).Weng loved writing the “tiger” character, which had special meaning for him because he was born in the year, the month, the day and the hour of the tiger.Xie Junmei謝俊美, Weng Tonghe ji (Beijing: Chung Hwa Book Co., 2005): 1226.

The earliest record of his writing the character “tiger” is January 6th, 1866. That day was the Chinese New Year of bingyin (丙寅), when Weng was thirty-seven years old, and his friend Pang Zhonglu龐鍾璐 (1822–1876) asked him to write the “tiger” character. After that time, Weng developed a habit of writing the tiger character on dates and times associated with tiger, as well as during the Dragon Boat Festival. Moreover, Weng regarded writing the “tiger” character as making a “tiger charm”虎符, because tiger, as the king of animals, was believed to ward off evil.Xing Kaixiang邢開祥, The Study on Calligraphy Art of Weng Tong-He翁同龢書法藝術之研究 (Master Thesis, Zhanghua: Mingdao University, 2008): 130. In his old age, he wrote a poem to explain this practice, “I do not write peach wood charms but tiger charms. People always laugh at me for being inept. However, one should know that tigers are righteous, for they are like gods quelling devils.”The original text is “不畫桃符畫虎苻，人皆笑我太迂腐。須知正氣森森在，疑有神靈百怪趨。.” Weng Tonghe, “Renyin yuandan hua huzi” 壬寅元旦畫虎字, in Pinglu shici ji (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1998): 275. To make his “tiger” more like a charm, Weng often wrote the characters in one single stroke of cursive script. Therefore, these characters are known as “one-stroke tiger.” Some are written in cinnabar.Weng Tonghe wrote many calligraphies of the tiger character in seal, clerical, regular and cursive scripts. They were in the formats of hanging scroll and fan. See The Study on Calligraphy Art of Weng Tong-He翁同龢書法藝術之研究: 165, 184-186. For the relations between charms and calligraphy, see Lothar Ledderose, “Some Taoist Elements in the Calligraphy of the Six Dynasties,” T’oung Pao LXX (1984): 246-278.

On the Seattle fan, following the character "tiger," he wrote a line from a Su Shi poem: “Straw-men and peach wood charms are worthless, anyway." (艾人桃印本無功). In the poem by Su Shi, this line follows the previous line: "Filial affection [of the Emperor] will certainly protect [you from] hundreds of illnesses," implying that filial piety is more effective than charms or ciphers.

Written in the first month of 1879 when Weng was fifty years old and at the peak of his career, this fan is a good example of his calligraphy during a transformative period when he began in earnest to study Yan Zhenqing’s style and the “stele school.” Weng’s study of Yan's calligraphy may well have been inspired by his admiration for Yan’s upright character, which is thought to be reflected in his calligraphy.C.Y. Shen Fu, “Yanshu yingxiang ji fenqi” 颜书影响及分期, in Essays on the History of Chinese Calligraphy: Tang through Yuan (Taipei: National Museum of History, 1996): 36, 38. Like the classic Weng Tonghe “one-stroke tiger,” written 1890, eleven years later than the Seattle fan, and in the collection of his grandnephew Wango Weng;Weng Tonghe, One Stroke Calligraphy of the Character Tiger, Hu, 1890, ink on paper, hanging scroll, 131.1 x 61 cm, collection of Wan-go Weng. The Preservation of Inheritance: The Weng Collection of Chinese painting and Calligraphy (Beijing: wenwu chubanshe, 2009), pl. 44. See also Shen C. Y.Fu, Traces of the Brush: Studies in Chinese Calligraphy (New Haven: Yale University Art Gallery, 1977), no. 87: 97, 123. the calligraphy on the Seattle fan is characterized by strong, forceful strokes, full of energy, which are reminiscent of Yan Zhenqing. As the fan paper is not flat, the continuous brushstroke for “tiger” appears broken. Nevertheless, the character was written fluently, with some dry areas indicating the swift motion of the brush. In addition, the line in running script following the tiger character also reflects the influence of Yan Zhenqing’s style, especially in the square shapes and thick strokes.

The deep folding of this fan suggests that it once was mounted as a functional fan rather than as a work of art for display. Interestingly, this fan was written in the year of the rabbit, but it is not recorded in Weng Tonghe’s biography or other related books. It was in his later years that he frequently did “one stroke tiger” in the fan format.The Study on Calligraphy Art of Weng Tong-He翁同龢書法藝術之研究: 166, 184. Hence, the Seattle fan may be among his first “tiger charms.”

© 2013 by the Seattle Art Museum