Wang Xizhi, as a famous calligrapher in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, many of his calligraphy works have important influence on our country, and it is not difficult for careful people to find that in the history of Chinese calligraphy art, the name of the calligrapher who appears the most often, that is, wang Xizhi's three words, so Wang Xizhi himself also has the reputation of "book saint", which shows that his status in the history of ancient calligraphy in China is very high. His calligraphy is euphemistic and subtle, but in terms of heroic spirit, it is far inferior to his son Wang Xianzhi. Cai Xiang once commented on Wang Xianzhi's calligraphy works in "Interesting Stories of Merlin", saying that it embodies a kind of extravagant and free technique, which is different from the creative characteristics of many ancient calligraphers, and its pen skills are very profound, and some of its calligraphy works can be regarded as extinct.
Of course, the benevolent see the wise and the wise see the wisdom, some people also think that Wang Xianzhi's penmanship is far inferior to his father Wang Xizhi's calligraphy skills, Li Shimin once wrote in his "Jinshu Wang Xizhi Biography", although Wang Xianzhi has his father's style, but this is not a new skill, carefully observe his orthography structure, we can find that the overall situation of his font is relatively thin, as if it is a dead tree in the hot winter, his handwriting is more restrained, as if he is a hungry slave of a strict family. This is the pathological phenomenon that exists in Wang Xianzhi's Hanmo. Li Shimin believed that Wang Xizhi's calligraphy works were too restrained and restrained, and sun Guoting, in order to cater to his meaning, criticized Wang Xianzhi with Confucian concepts, saying that his calligraphy creation style was a great disrespect for the great change in calligraphy, and did not respect the law of calligraphy change, and at the same time indirectly evaluated Wang Xianzhi according to his calligraphy characteristics, saying that Wang Xianzhi was an arrogant and arrogant person. I think that judging a person based on a person's likes and dislikes is one-sided, unrealistic, and unreasonable.
If we look at Wang Xianzhi's works from a longitudinal perspective, I think that even if his calligraphy does not reach the level of his father Wang Xizhi, in some respects it can be compared with Wang Xizhi, so it can be said that each has its own strengths. Different calligraphy creations reflect the unique artistic charm of the creator, so there is no absolute standard for the quality of calligraphy, each calligraphy writer has its own strengths, Wang Xizhi is called "book sage", on the one hand, because its own art works have reached a high aesthetic realm, on the other hand, coupled with people's respect for him, the Lanting collection he created has a very mysterious inheritance color. I think we have to evaluate the quality of a calligraphy from a dialectical point of view, from the unity of opposites to grasp the differences between different books, I think that every calligraphy is interrelated, interdependent, have their common artistic characteristics and their own unique artistic charm.
Compared with the prominent position of his father Wang Xizhi in the history of calligraphy, Wang Xianzhi's position in the history of Chinese calligraphy is suddenly low and high, and from the end of the Jin Dynasty to the Liang Dynasty, Wang Xianzhi's influence in the history of Chinese calligraphy far exceeded that of his father Wang Xizhi. Song Qi calligraphers with a relatively high status of calligraphy also once admired Wang Xianzhi, Wang Xizhi, as Wang Xianzhi's father, from a young age, strictly taught Wang Xianzhi, Wang Xianzhi plus his own talent is very intelligent, the ability to innovate cursive is also very good, the ability to innovate cursive far exceeds the creative level of his father Wang Xizhi, for a time and his father Wang Xizhi were collectively called "two kings".
Liang Tao Hongjing once said in "Discussion with Emperor Wu of Liang" that Wang Xianzhi occupied an important position in the history of calligraphy at that time. However, during the Tang Dynasty, Tang Taizong praised Wang Xizhi and belittled Wang Xianzhi, which also made some critics in the calligraphy circles believe that Wang Xianzhi's calligraphy was far inferior to that of his father Wang Xizhi, and Tang Taizong even deliberately did not buy his works in order to belittle Wang Xianzhi, so there are only a few surviving wang xianzhi's handwritings in the inner palace. In the Song Taizong period, he began to pay attention to Han Mo again, purchased the works of the Wang clan in the ancient emperor period, and also ordered the re-engraving of more than ten volumes of Wang's works, it can be said that most of the book stickers are the works of Wang Xianzhi and his father Wang Xizhi. Wang Xianzhi's works alone have about seventy pieces, during the Northern Song Dynasty Xuanhe period, Song Huizong admired Wang Xianzhi's calligraphy, and the calligraphy works of Wang Xianzhi included in the Xuanhe Book Genealogy increased to more than eighty pieces, but unfortunately, the vast majority of these calligraphy works have not survived, and the few ink copies that have survived, the number of which does not exceed seven, and it is not the original work, it is all copied down, but the ancient inscriptions still retain some of the authentic handwriting.
Until the emergence of official engravings, which laid the foundation for Wang Xizhi and Wang Xianzhi in the calligraphy industry of the originator of the status, since then the study of calligraphy stickers has been highly prosperous, existing in the book world for more than five hundred years, Zhao Meng, Wen Zhengming, Cai Xiang, Tang Yin and others inherited the calm atmosphere of Wang Xizhi's calligraphy, Wang Pet, Li Yong, Mi Fu, Wang Duo and others inherited the characteristics of Wang Xianzhi's calligraphy.