Wang Xizhi Enlarging the Preface to the Orchid Pavilion Collection

Author: Wang Xizhi (Eastern Jin Dynasty)
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2006-01-01
Features: Wang Xizhi was a renowned calligrapher of the Eastern Jin Dynasty. His running script is as fluid as flowing clouds and water, with the "Preface to the Orchid Pavilion" being considered the pinnacle of his works. On the third day of the third month in the ninth year of the Yonghe reign of Emperor Mu of Jin, General Youjun traveled to Shanyin and gathered with forty-one others, including Sun Tongcheng and Xie An, at the Orchid Pavilion in Shanyin, Wuxi. They performed the ritual of washing away impurities in the water. While drinking and composing poems, Wang Xizhi, using a specially selected rhino-hair brush and silk paper, enthusiastically wrote a preface to record the grand event, totaling 324 characters. Among them, the twenty "zhi" characters exhibit diverse forms and aesthetics. This calligraphic piece is so effortlessly executed as if divinely assisted, earning the praise of being "powerful, elegant, and unparalleled in its generation."