As we all know, Wang Xizhi's Preface to Lanting is the first running script in the world, and his Seventeen Posts is actually a great example of cursive script in China's calligraphy. Because the beginning of the work begins with seventeen characters, it is named seventeen posts. Because Wang Xizhi's age is 1000 years old, seventeen posts have no originals, but what we are seeing now is its engraving, but it is still quite precious.
Zhang Yanyuan of the Tang Dynasty wrote a Book of the Dharma, which recorded the details of seventeen posts in the early years of the Tang Dynasty. At that time, the original work was * * * 107 lines, with 943 words, 10 feet long and about 3.2 meters. Seventeen posts was not written by Wang Xizhi at one time, but in the fourteen years from Yonghe three years to Shengping five years. It is a collection of twenty-seven posts. Seventeen posts itself is a kind of epistolary style, which was written by Wang Xizhi to his friend Zhou Fu, who was a secretariat in Yizhou. Therefore, this post is not only a treasure in calligraphy, but also an important historical material for studying Wang Xizhi's life and the development of his calligraphy.
The cursive style of Seventeen Posts is just like Wang Xizhi's whole calligraphy. Elegant and harmonious, not too vigorous, not as wild and strange as ordinary cursive script, in line with Chinese aesthetics.
Wang Xizhi's son, Wang Xizhi's extensive accomplishments in calligraphy inevitably influenced his sons in his calligraphy family. Among these sons, Wang Xianzhi is good at cursive script and official script, and also proficient in other books; Wang Ningzhi used official script cursive script; Both Wang Huizhi and Wang Huanzhi are good at cursive writing; Wang Cao's works are in the right books. Therefore, Wang Xizhi's sons have their own strengths, and they are all famous calligraphers at that time.
However, among these sons, Wang Xianzhi's calligraphy is the best. Later, he and his father Wang Xizhi were called the two kings. Wang Xizhi was as smart and studious as his father since he was a child. He is good at painting as well as calligraphy. Wang Xianzhi worked hard at calligraphy since he was a child. One day, Wang Xizhi saw that his youngest son was practicing calligraphy hard, so he quietly walked behind him and suddenly went to get Wang Xianzhi's pen, but he couldn't hold it for a while. Wang Xizhi was very happy and praised Wang Xianzhi for his great achievements in calligraphy in the future.
However, Wang Xianzhi Jr. is often praised by others for his excellent qualifications. After all, Wang Xianzhi is still young, so it is easy to breed a kind of complacency, which is naturally seen by parents. One day, Wang Xianzhi went to his mother's rare home and asked her how long it would take to write Chinese calligraphy. Three years is enough. Mother Xi shook her head, Wang Xianzhi said five years, and her mother shook her head again. Wang Xianzhi was in a hurry and asked how long it would take. Mother pointed to the eighteen vats on one side and said, only when you write down the water in the eighteen vats in this hospital will you have bones and muscles.
Therefore, Wang Xianzhi's superb calligraphy attainments are not only his own talent, but also his parents' careful teaching. During the Northern and Southern Dynasties, Wang Xianzhi's reputation once surpassed that of his father Wang Xizhi. It was not until Emperor Taizong began that Wang Xizhi's position was raised again.