Yan Zhenqing is a calligrapher who is good at line and regular script, and his calligraphy attainments are profound, especially known for his dignified and majestic regular script and vigorous and emotional calligraphy. The style of calligraphy he created was called "Yan Ti" by later generations, and Zhao Mengfu, Liu Gongquan, and Ouyang Xun were called the "Four Masters of Regular Script", and Liu Gongquan was called "Yan Liu".
Although Yan Zhenqing's works are numerous, later generations learn more about the works he created after middle age. However, in the autumn of 2003, Yan Zhenqing's regular script work unearthed in Zhanggou Village, Longmen Town, Luoyang, was written when he was 33 years old. This work is the "Epitaph of Wang Lin", which is an epitaph and preface written in the twenty-ninth year of the Kaiyuan Dynasty (741).
The author of "Wang Lin's Epitaph" is Xu Qiao, the founder of Ciyuan County, Xu Qiao, the history of Runzhou Thorn, the interview and disposal of Jiangnan Dongdao and the envoy of Fujian and other states. Xu Qiaowen is outstanding, and the epitaph he wrote is extraordinary, although he was over half a hundred years old at the time, he gave the young Yan Zhenqing the opportunity to display his talents. This also makes us fortunate to be able to appreciate the charm of Yan Zhenqing's calligraphy in his early years.
"Wang Lin's Epitaph" has important research value in the history of Chinese calligraphy, and is the earliest surviving calligraphy work of Yan Zhenqing. Its overall style is beautiful, the strokes are thin, the structure is flat, the middle palace is tightened, and it is full of delicate and restrained exquisiteness. This work is a masterpiece.