Of the four major families of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, namely Wang, Xie, Xi and Yu, the most prominent one has to be counted as the Wang family, and the most outstanding achievements in calligraphy deservedly belong to the Wang family. Wang's family has the most calligraphers. In this calligraphy family, there are father and son to win, brother competition, and husband and wife competition, in-laws learn from each other, this is not only the history of calligraphy appears extremely dazzling, in the history of world art is also unique. In particular, there appeared the Sage of Calligraphy, Wang Xizhi, and his seventh son, Wang Xianzhi, father and son were known to the world as the "Two Kings". Wang's pride is here, and so is the pride of Eastern Jin calligraphy.
Wang Xianzhi, with the character of Zijing and the small character of Guannu, was an official of the Central Book Committee, and was known as "Wang Daling". His calligraphy was a mixture of regular script, running script, cursive script and clerical script. Xianzhi studied with his father at an early age, and from a young age, he showed his superhuman talent, which was so vigorous and aggressive that he was not confined by his father, but created his own style, which was very impressive. Unfortunately, God envied his talent and he died prematurely at the age of forty-two.
Wang Xianzhi's small regular script, represented by the Thirteen Lines of Luoshen Fu (right photo), is characterized by outward expansion of the brush, and a well-proportioned and strict style, like that of a lady of the house, with a charming and graceful gesture.
The most famous of his running scripts is the "Duck Head Pill Post".
The Duck Head Pill Post is a work of Wang Xianzhi's cursive writing. Two lines, the text says: "duck head pill, so not good. Tomorrow when must be set, when to meet with you." *** Fifteen words, the Department of Wang Xianzhi to a friend's note. The original is now in the Shanghai Museum. The whole post with ink withered and moist. Jiang Kui "renewed spectrum of calligraphy - ink," said: "Where the regular script, the ink wants to dry, but not too dry. Running cursive is mixed with dryness and moistness, taking Yan with moistness and risk with dryness." Duck Head Maru Post" two layers of meaning, dipped in ink twice, once a sentence, the ink color are from moist and withered, from thick and light, ink color is clear. Thus showing the rhythmic ups and downs of the whole post and the natural changes in chiaroscuro. The "draft line of grass" style of cursive writing is Wang Xianzhi's original style of writing, and the "Duck Head Maru Post" is his masterpiece of cursive writing.
Wang Xianzhi's creation of the "draft line of grass" was a major contribution, and his creation of the "one stroke" cursive script was another major contribution, as he advanced Zhang Zhi's zhangcao (章草) and his father Wang Xizhi's jincao (今草) to another level. Cursive masterpiece "mid-autumn post" is its "a book" masterpiece, the strokes are continuous, like a river, a cascade, showing a kind of majestic cool breath, the world evaluation is very high, was listed as the Qing Dynasty Palace "three Hsi" of the second.
Xi dedication father and son, in calligraphy, each has its own style, xi to real behavior is obvious, dedication to the grass for can. In the Tang Dynasty, there was a period in which Hsi and Xian were raised and suppressed. In fact, calligraphy cannot be assessed in terms of a type of calligraphy to determine which is inferior or superior. The fact that Wang Xianzhi was able to stand out from his father's shroud is a testament to his extraordinary talent.
Wang Xianzhi's elder brother, Wang Huizhi, with the character Ziyou, was an official of the Yellow Gate. He was uninhibited and unkempt in nature, and was good at both real and cursive script, which was described in the Xuanhe Shubuan (Records of the Xuanhe Calligraphy) as being "between Xi-xian and the family's law", and his works, including the "Crescent Moon Poster", were handed down to the world.
Between Song, Qi, Liang and Chen in the Southern Dynasty, many people revered Wang Xianzhi's words. Wang's descendants of the great calligrapher Wang Shengqi (425-485), Wang Zhi father and son is particularly notable. The Liaoning Museum has facsimiles of both father and son, respectively, the eighth post in the Banzai Tongtian Post, Wang Yan Post, and the tenth post, One Day Without Shen Post.