Buy the king and get the sheep. This Chinese idiom, whose pinyin is mǎi wáng dé yáng, means that I wanted to buy Wang Xian’s calligraphy, but got Yang Xin’s calligraphy. It means that the calligraphy and painting imitated by celebrities are too realistic and difficult to distinguish. From "Shu Duan" (Tang Dynasty, Zhang Huaiguan).
Tang Zhang Huaiguan's "Book Break." "Yang Xin": "People at that time said, 'Buy the king and you will get the sheep, and you will not be disappointed.' In today's Daling (referring to Wang Xianzhi), the timid person in the book is often the sheep (Yang Xin)." It means that you want to buy Wang Xianzhi. But he got the calligraphy of Yang Xin, a member of his family, which was one level behind and still unsatisfactory.
Ming Dynasty Pan Zhicong's "Calligraphy Li Gou". "Pin Title": "At the time of the Song and Qi Dynasties, people said: 'Buy the king and you will get the sheep, and you will not be disappointed.' There was an important order at that time, and Yang Xin was a disciple of the great order. It is wonderful to have the law of the great order." "Ten Quatrains" by Wang Shizhen of the Ming Dynasty "Postscript to Poems and Paintings": "Perhaps there is a flaw in Zhao's calligraphy, which was written by Yu Zizhi. Sure enough, it is said that if you buy the king, you will get the sheep's ears."
I wanted to buy Wang Xizhi's calligraphy, but I got Yang Xin's. Character. It means unsatisfactory. In the book "Book Break" written by Zhang Huaiguan of the Tang Dynasty: "People at that time said: Buy the king and you will get the sheep, and you will not be disappointed." It also means that although the calligraphy and painting imitated by famous people are realistic, they are still inferior.
Ming Dynasty Wang Shizhen's "Postscript to Ten Quatrains of Poetry and Painting": "Perhaps there is a flaw in Yun Zhao's calligraphy, and it was written by Yu Zizhi. Buy it. It is said that if you buy the king, you will get the sheep's ear." It is used to describe unsatisfactory writing. →Unsatisfactory? Begging for wine? Overjoyed? Disappointed.