The composition, structure and brushwork of Preface to Lanting Collection are quite mature and mellow, which has a strong artistic charm between paper and ink. The pen is full of charm and strength, which combines the rules of seal script, official script and cursive script. The center began to turn, and the lines were like running water.
Every 324 words, every word is shaped into a vivid life by Wang Xizhi, full of bones and muscles, full of flesh and blood, and endowed with different properties, spirits and manners, such as sitting, lying, walking, walking, dancing or singing. In a certain range, some are like regular script, some are like cursive script, as if they are like a group of gifted scholars, interacting with each other, elegant and smart. Wang Xizhi's wisdom is not only reflected in the diversity of font structure, but also in the structure of heavy words. None of the more than 20 words "Zhi" are the same, each with its own style and spirit.
In the whole layout, the vertical behavior is the center, and the words are staggered, but the words are connected and inseparable, and a musical rhythm flows between the lines. Huang Tingjian said: "The Preface to Lanting is grass, and Wang Youjun was proud of this book all his life. I read it again and again, which is slightly unsatisfactory. " Dong Qichang, a painter in the Ming Dynasty, wrote in his Essays on Painting Zen Rooms: "The Preface to the Lanting Pavilion by the Right Army is the first in ancient and modern times, and its figures are all embodied by belts, which are in line with statutes, so it is also a masterpiece."
The Preface to Lanting is appreciated from a literary point of view, with beautiful words and broad feelings. It is a masterpiece of the ages; From the perspective of calligraphy, it embodies the classical aesthetic ideal paradigm of balance and neutralization of brushwork, bone and flesh, shape and spirit, rigidity and softness. Therefore, Preface to Lanting is known as the "crown of calligraphy", which has been carefully studied by calligraphers in past dynasties and praised as "the best running script in the world".