Lantingji Xu

In the ninth year of the Emperor Yonghe (353 CE), a Spring Purification Ceremony was held at Lanting, Kuaiji Prefecture (today's Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province), where Wang was appointed as the governor at the time.

[1] At the end of the day, twenty-six literati composed thirty-seven poems in total and the Lantingji Xu, as a preface to the collection was produced by Wang on the spot.

The improvisational work demonstrated Wang's extraordinary calligraphy skill with the elegant and fluent strokes in a coherent spirit throughout the entire preface.

Not only the aesthetic form of the manuscript is highly appreciated but also the transcendent sentiments expressed in the preface about life and death is a timeless classic.

The overjoyed Emperor shortly requested several court officials and calligraphers to copy the Lantingji Xu and upon Taizong's death, the original was said to have been buried together in his mausoleum in Shaanxi Province.

Today, among the existing copies of the preface, a few outstanding imitations were attributed to Feng Chengsu (617–672), Ouyang Xun (557–641), Yu Shinan (558–638) and Chu Suiliang (596–659) from the Tang dynasty.

Given that there is not a single piece of original work by Wang's own hand which has survived to our time, the authenticity of the Lantingji Xu has been a subject of controversy, particularly from the Qing Dynasty (1644–1912) onwards.

Typically the stone inscriptions last much longer than the paper versions, and so may contribute to the general understanding of Chinese script styles, and particularly the role or authenticity of Lantingji Xu as part of this process.

The voice of forgery, with a key representative Guo Moruo (1892 – 1978), the first President of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, claims the Running Style only matured after the Tang dynasty as the artworks and records around the Han to Jin Dynasty imply a heavy dependence of using the Clerical script (evolved around 300 BCE) instead of the Running style, such examples include the stone inscriptions demonstrated in Figure 3 and 4.

Figure 1 Juran, Xiao Yi Getting the Orchid Pavilion Scroll by Deception, 10th century, ink and colour on silk, 144.1 × 59.6 cm.
Figure 3 Yanxi, details of Huashanmiao , Han dynasty, stone rubbing. Collection of Hong Kong Chinese University (Clerical Script)
Figure 4 Details of Cuanbaizi , 405 CE, stone rubbing. (Transition between the Clerical Script and Regular Script )
Figure 5 Zhongyao, details of Hejie Biao, 219 CE, stone rubbing. (Running Style)
Figure 6 Zhangzhi, Guanjun Tie , 2nd century, stone rubbing. (Cursive Style)